REZANOV 


GERTRUDE 
ATHERTON 


REZANOV 


REZANOV 


BY 

GERTRUDE  ATHERTON 


NEW   YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,  1906,  BY  GERTRUDE  ATHERTON 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


SRLF 
URL 

PS 

IOM1 


TO 

DELFINA  DE  LA  GUERRA  Y  MORENO 

A   FRIEND   WHOM   I   GREATLY  ADMIRE 


BEZ^NOV 


REZANOV 


As  the  little  ship  that  had  three  times  raced  with  death 
sailed  past  the  gray  headlands  and  into  the  straits  of 
San  Francisco  on  that  brilliant  April  morning  of  1806, 
Rezanov  forgot  the  bitter  humiliations,  the  mental  and 
physical  torments,  the  deprivations  and  dangers  of  the 
past  three  years1}  forgot  those  harrowing  months  in  the 
harbor  of  Nagasaki  when  the  Russian  bear  had  caged 
his  tail  in  the  presence  of  eyes  aslant;  his  dismay  at 
Kamchatka  when  he  had  been  forced  to  send  home  an 
other  to  vindicate  his  failure,  and  to  remain  in  the 
Tsar's  incontiguous  and  barbarous  northeastern  posses 
sions  as  representative  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  and 
plenipotentiary  of  the  Company  his  own  genius  had 
created ;  forgot  the  year  of  loneliness  and  hardship  and 
peril  in  whose  jaws  the  bravest  was  impotent;  forgot 
even  his  pitiable  crew,  diseased  when  he  left  Sitka,  that 
had  filled  the  Juno  with  their  groans  and  laments;  and 
the  bells  of  youth,  long  still,  rang  in  his  soul  once  more. 
"It  is  the  spring  in  California,"  he  thought,  with  a 
sigh  that  curled  at  the  edge.  'However,"  life  had 
made  him  philosophical;  "the  moments  of  unreasonable 
happiness  are  the  most  enviable  no  doubt,  for  there  is 
neither  gall  nor  satiety  in  the  reaction.  All  this  is  as 
enchanting  as — well,  as  a  woman's  promise.  What  lies 
beyond?  Illiterate  and  mercenary  Spaniards,  vicious 
natives,  and  boundless  ennui,  one  may  safely  wager. 
But  if  all  California  is  as  beautiful  as  this,  no  man  that 
has  spent  a  winter  in  Sitka  should  ask  for  more." 

1 


2  REZANOV 

In  the  extent  and  variety  of  his  travels  Rezanov 
had  seen  Nature  more  awesome  of  feature  but  never 
more  fair.  On  his  immediate  right  as  he  sailed  down 
the  straits  toward  the  narrow  entrance  to  be  known  as 
the  Golden  Gate,  there  was  little  to  interest  save  the 
surf  and  the  masses  of  outlying  rocks  where  the  seals 
leapt  and  barked ;  the  shore  beyond  was  sandy  and  low. 
But  on  his  left  the  last  of  the  northern  mountains  rose 
straight  from  the  water,  the  warm  red  of  its  deeply  in 
dented  cliffs  rich  in  harmony  with  the  green  of  slope 
and  height.  There  was  not  a  tree;  the  mountains,  the 
promontories,  the  hills  far  down  on  the  right  beyond 
the  sand  dunes,  looked  like  stupendous  waves  of  lava 
that  had  cooled  into  every  gracious  line  and  fold  within 
the  art  of  relenting  Nature ;  granted  ages  after,  a  light 
coat  of  verdure  to  clothe  the  terrible  mystery  of  birth. 
The  great  bay,  as  blue  and  tranquil  as  a  high  mountain 
lake,  as  silent  as  if  the  planet  still  slept  after  the 
agonies  of  labor,  looked  to  be  broken  by  a  number  of 
promontories,  rising  from  their  points  far  out  in  the 
water  to  the  high  back  of  the  land;  but  as  the  Juno 
pursued  her  slanting  way  down  the  channel  Rezanov 
saw  that  the  most  imposing  of  these  was  but  the  end  of 
a  large  island,  and  that  scattered  near  were  other  islands, 
masses  of  rock  like  the  castellated  heights  that  rise 
abruptly  from  the  plains  of  Italy  and  Spain ;  far  away, 
narrower  straits,  with  a  glittering  expanse  beyond; 
while  bounding  the  whole  eastern  rim  of  this  splendid 
sheet  of  water  was  a  chain  of  violet  hills,  with  the  pale 
green  mist  of  new  grass  here  and  there,  and  purple  hol 
lows  that  might  mean  groves  of  trees  crouching  low 
against  the  cold  winds  of  summer ;  in  the  soft  pale  blue 
haze  above  and  beyond,  the  lofty  volcanic  peak  of  a 
mountain  range.  Not  a  human  being,  not  a  boat,  not 
even  a  herd  of  cattle  was  to  be  seen,  and  Rezanov,  for  a 
moment  forgetting  to  exult  in  the  length  of  Russia's 
arm,  yielded  himself  to  the  subtle  influence  abroad  in 
the  air,  and  felt  that  he  could  dream  as  he  had  dreamed 
in  a  youth  when  the  courts  of  Europe  to  the  boy  were 


REZANOV  3 

as  fabulous  as  El  Dorado  in  the  immensity  of  ancestral 
seclusions. 

"It  is  like  the  approach  to  paradise,  is  it  not,  Excel 
lency?"  a  deferential  voice  murmured  at  his  elbow. 

The  plenipotentiary  frowned  without  turning  his 
head.  Dr.  Langsdorff,  surgeon  and  naturalist,  had  ac 
companied  the  Embassy  to  Japan,  and  although  Rezanov 
had  never  found  any  man  more  of  a  bore  and 
would  willingly  have  seen  the  last  of  him  at  Kam 
chatka,  a  skilful  dispenser  of  drugs  and  mender  of 
bones  was  necessary  in  his  hazardous  voyages,  and  he 
retained  him  in  his  suite.  Langsdorff  returned  his  polite 
tolerance  with  all  the  hidden  resources  of  his  spleen; 
but  his  curiosity  and  scientific  enthusiasm  would  have 
sustained  him  through  greater  trials  than  the  exactions 
of  an  autocrat,  whom  at  least  he  had  never  ceased  to 
respect  in  the  most  trying  moments  at  Nagasaki. 

"Yes,"  said  Rezanov.  "But  I  wonder  you  find  any 
thing  to  admire  in  such  unportable  objects  as  moun 
tains  and  water.  I  have  not  seen  a  living  thing  but 
gulls  and  seals,  and  God  knows  we  had  enough  of  both 
at  Sitka." 

"Ah,  your  excellency,  in  a  land  as  fertile  as  this,  and 
caressed  by  a  climate  that  would  coax  life  from  a  stone, 
there  must  be  an  infinite  number  of  aquatic  and  aerial 
treasures  that  will  add  materially  to  the  scientific  lore 
of  Europe." 

' '  Humph ! ' '  said  Rezanov,  and  moved  his  shoulder  in 
an  uncontrollable  gesture  of  dismissal.  But  the  spell 
of  the  April  morning  was  broken,  although  the  learned 
doctor  was  not  to  be  the  only  offender. 

The  Golden  Gate  is  but  a  mile  in  width  and  the  swift 
current  carried  the  Juno  toward  a  low  promontory  from 
the  base  of  which  a  shrill  cry  suddenly  ascended.  Reza 
nov,  raising  his  glass,  saw  what  he  had  taken  to  be  a 
pile  of  fallen  rocks  was  a  fort,  and  that  a  group  of 
excited  men  stood  at  its  gates.  Once  more  the  plenipo 
tentiary  on  a  delicate  mission,  he  ordered  the  two  naval 


4  REZANOV 

officers  sailing  the  ship  to  come  forward,  and  retired  to 
the  dignified  isolation  of  the  cabin. 

The  high-spirited  young  officers,  who  would  have 
raised  a  gay  hurrah  at  the  sight  of  civilized  man  had  it 
not  been  for  the  awe  in  which  they  held  their  chief, 
saluted  the  Spaniards  formally,  then  stood  in  an  atti 
tude  of  extreme  respect;  the  Juno  was  directly  under 
the  guns  of  the  fort. 

One  of  the  Spaniards  raised  a  speaking  trumpet  and 
shouted : 

"Who  are  you?" 

No  one  on  the  Juno,  save  Rezanov,  could  speak  a  word 
of  Spanish,  but  the  tone  of  the  query  was  its  own  in 
terpreter.  The  oldest  of  the  lieutenants,  through  the 
ship's  trumpet,  shouted  back: 

'  *  The  Juno— Sitka— Russian. ' ' 

The  Spanish  officer  made  a  peremptory  gesture  that 
the  ship  come  to  anchor  in  the  shelter  given  by  an  im 
mense  angle  of  the  mainland,  of  which  the  fort's  point 
was  the  western  extreme.  The  Russians,  as  befitted  the 
peaceful  nature  of  their  mission,  obeyed  without  delay. 
Before  their  resting  place,  and  among  the  sand  hills  a 
mile  from  the  beach,  was  a  quadrangle  of  buildings 
some  two  hundred  feet  square  and  surrounded  by  a  wall 
about  fourteen  feet  high  and  seven  feet  thick.  This 
they  knew  to  be  the  Presidio.  They  saw  the  officers  that 
had  hailed  them  gallop  over  the  hill  behind  the  fort  to 
the  more  ambitious  enclosure,  and,  in  the  square,  confer 
with  another  group  that  seemed  to  be  in  a  corresponding 
state  of  excitement.  A  few  moments  later  a  deputa 
tion  of  officers,  accompanied  by  a  priest  in  the  brown 
habit  of  the  Franciscan  order,  started  on  horseback  for 
the  beach.  Rezanov  ordered  Lieutenant  Davidov  and 
Dr.  Langsdorff  to  the  shore  as  his  representatives. 

The  Spaniards  wore  the  undress  uniform  of  black  and 
scarlet  in  which  they  had  been  surprised,  but  their 
peaked  straw  hats  were  decorated  with  cords  of  gold  or 
silver,  the  tassels  hanging  low  on  the  broad  brim;  their 
high  deer-skin  boots  were  gaily  embroidered,  and  bris- 


REZANOV  5 

tied  with  immense  silver  spurs.  The  commanding  officer 
alone  had  invested  himself  with  a  gala  scrape,  a  square 
of  red  cloth  with  a  bound  and  embroidered  slit  for  the 
head.  Leading  the  rapid  procession,  his  left  hand  rest 
ing  significantly  on  his  sword,  he  was  a  fine  specimen 
of  the  young  California  grandee,  dark  and  dashing  and 
reckless,  lithe  of  figure,  thoroughbred,  ardent.  His  eyes 
were  sparkling  at  the  prospect  of  excitement;  not  only 
had  the  Russians,  by  their  nefarious  appropriation  of 
the  northwestern  corner  of  the  continent  and  a  recent 
piratical  excursion  in  pursuit  of  otter,  inspired  the 
Spanish  Government  with  a  profound  disapproval  and 
mistrust,  but  a  rumor  had  run  up  the  coast  that  made 
every  sea-gull  look  like  the  herald  of  a  hostile  fleet. 
This  was  young  Argiiello's  first  taste  of  command,  and 
life  was  dull  on  the  northern  peninsula;  he  would  have 
welcomed  a  declaration  of  war. 

Davidov  and  Langsdorff  had  come  to  shore  in  one  of 
the  Juno's  canoes.  The  conversation  w'as  held  in  Latin 
between  the  two  men  of  learning. 

' '  Who  are  you  and  whence  come  you  ? ' '  asked  the  priest. 

Langsdorff,  who  had  been  severely  drilled  by  the 
plenipotentiary  as  to  text,  replied  with  a  profound  bow : 
''We  are  Russians  engaged  in  completing  the  circum 
navigation  of  the  globe.  It  was  our  intention  to  go 
directly  to  Monterey  and  present  our  official  documents, 
as  well  as  our  respects,  to  your  illustrious  Governor, 
but  owing  to  contrary  winds  and  a  resultant  scarcity  of 
provisions,  we  were  under  the  necessity  of  putting  into 
the  nearest  harbor.  The  Juno  is  navigated  by  Lieuten 
ant  Davidov  and  Lieutenant  Khovstov,  of  the  Imperial 
Navy  of  Russia;  by  gracious  permission  associated  with 
the  Marine  of  the  Russo- American  Company."  He 
paused  a  moment,  and  then  swept  out  his  trump  card 
with  a  magnificent  flourish:  "Our  expedition  is  in 
command  of  His  Excellency,  Privy  Counsellor  and 
Grand  Chamberlain  Baron  Rezanov,  late  Ambassador  to 
the  Court  of  Japan,  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Russo- Amer 
ican  Company,  Imperial  Inspector  of  the  extreme  eastern 


6  REZANOV 

and  northwestern  American  dominions  of  His  Imperial 
Majesty,  Alexander  the  First,  Emperor  of  all  the  Rus- 
sias,  whose  representative  in  these  waters  he  is. ' ' 

The  Spaniards  were  properly  impressed  as  the  priest 
translated  with  the  glibness  of  the  original ;  but  Argiiel- 
lo,  who  now  announced  himself  as  Commandante  ad 
interim  of  the  Presidio  of  San  Francisco  during  the 
absence  of  his  father  at  Monterey,  nodded  sagely  several 
times,  and  then  held  a  short  conference  in  Spanish  with 
the  interpreter.  The  priest  turned  to  the  Russians  with 
a  smile  as  diplomatic  as  that  which  Rezanov  had  drilled 
upon  the  ugly  ingenuous  countenance  of  his  medicine 
man. 

"Our  illustrious  Governor,  Don  Jose  Arrillaga,  re 
ceived  word  from  the  court  of  Spain,  now  quite  two 
years  ago,  of  the  sailing  in  1803  from  Kronstadt  of  the 
ships  Nadeshda  and  Neva,  in  command  of  Captain 
Krusenstern  and  Captain  Lisiansky,  the  former  having 
on  board  the  illustrious  Ambassador  to  Japan,  the  Privy 
Counsellor  and  Chamberlain  de  Rezanov.  It  was  ex 
pected  that  these  ships  would  touch  at  more  than  one  of 
His  Most  Holy  Catholic  Majesty's  vast  dominions,  and 
all  viceroys  and  gobernador  proprietaries  were  alike  in 
structed  to  receive  the  exalted  representative  of  the 
mighty  Emperor  of  Russia  with  hospitality  and  respect. 
But  we  cannot  understand  why  his  excellency  comes  to 
us  so  late  and  in  so  small  a  ship,  rather  than  in  the  state 
with  which  he  sailed  from  Europe." 

"The  explanation  is  simple,  my  father.  The  original 
ships,  from  a  variety  of  circumstances,  were,  upon  our 
arrival  at  Kamchatka,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  embassy 
to  Japan,  under  the  necessity  of  returning  at  once  to 
Europe.  His  Imperial  Majesty,  Alexander  the  First, 
ordered  the  Chamberlain  and  plenipotentiary,  the  rep 
resentative  of  imperial  power  in  the  Russo- American 
possessions,  to  remove  to  the  Juno  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  Kurile  and  Aleutian  Islands,  Kadiak  and 
the  northwestern  coast  of  America."  The  Tsar  had 
never  heard  of  the  Juno,  but  as  Rezanov  was  practically 


REZANOV  7 

his  august  self  in  these  far-away  waters,  there  was 
enough  of  truth  in  this  statement  to  appease  the  con 
science  of  a  subordinate. 

The  Spaniards  were  satisfied.  Lieutenant  Argiiello 
begged  that  the  emissaries  would  return  to  the  ship  and 
invite  the  Chamberlain  and  his  party  to  come  at  once 
to  the  Presidio  and  do  it  the  honor  to  partake  of  the 
poor  hospitality  it  afforded.  An  officer  galloped  furi 
ously  for  horses. 

A  few  moments  later  they  were  still  more  deeply  im 
pressed  by  the  appearance  of  their  distinguished  visitor 
as  he  stood  erect  in  the  boat  that  brought  him  to  shore. 
In  full  uniform  of  dark  green  and  gold  lace,  with  cocked 
hat  and  the  splendid  order  of  St.  Ann  on  his  breast, 
Rezanov  was  by  rfar  the  finest  specimen  of  a  man  the 
Californians,  themselves  of  ampler  build  than  their  Eu 
ropean  ancestors,  had  ever  beheld.  Of  commanding 
stature  and  physique,  with  an  air  of  highest  breeding 
and  repose,  he  looked  both  a  man  of  the  great  world 
and  an  intolerant  leader  of  men.  His  long  oval  face  was 
thin  and  somewhat  lined,  the  mouth  heavily  molded  and 
closely  set,  suggestive  of  sarcasm  and  humor;  the  nose 
long,  with  arching  and  flexible  nostrils.  His  eyes,  sel 
dom  widely  opened,  were  light  blue,  very  keen,  usually 
cold.  Like  many  other  men  of  his  position  in  Europe, 
he  had  discarded  wig  and  queue  and  wore  his  short  fair 
hair  unpowdered. 

It  was  a  singularly  imposing  but  hardly  attractive 
presence,  thought  young  Argiiello,  until  Kezanov,  after 
stepping  on  shore  and  bowing  formally,  suddenly  smiled 
and  held  out  his  hand.  Then  the  impressionable  Span 
iard  "melted  like  a  woman,"  as  he  told  his  sister, 
Concha,  and  would  have  embraced  the  stranger  on  either 
cheek  had  not  awe  lingered  to  temper  his  enthusiasm. 
But  Rezanov  never  made  a  stauncher  friend  than  Louis 
Argiiello,  who  vowed  to  the  last  of  his  days  that  the 
one  man  who  had  fulfilled  his  ideal  of  the  grand  seig 
neur  was  he  that  sailed  in  from  the  North  on  that  fate 
ful  April  morning  of  1806. 


II 

As  Rezanov,  heading  the  procession  with  young  Argiiel- 
lo,  entered  the  wide  gates  of  the  Presidio,  he  received 
an  impression  memorably  different  from  that  which 
led  earlier  travelers  to  describe  it  inclemently  as  a  large 
square  surrounded  by  mud  houses  thatched  with  reeds. 
It  is  true  that  the  walls  were  of  adobe  and  the  roofs  of 
tule,  nor  was  there  a  tree  on  the  sand  hills  encircling 
the  stronghold.  But  in  this  early  springtime — the  sum 
mer  of  the  peninsula — the  hills  showed  patches  of  ver 
dure,  and  all  the  low  white  buildings  were  covered  by 
a  network  of  soft  dull  green  and  archaic  pink.  The 
Castilian  rose,  full  and  fluted,  and  of  a  chaste  and  pene 
trating  fragrance,  hung  singly  and  in  clusters  on  the 
pillars  of  the  dwellings,  on  the  barracks  and  chapel, 
from  the  very  roofs;  bloomed  upon  bushes  as  high  as 
young  trees.  The  Presidio  was  as  delicately  perfumed 
as  a  lady's  bower,  and  its  cannon  faced  the  ever-chang 
ing  hues  of  water  and  island  and  hill. 

As  the  party  approached,  heads  of  all  ages  appeared 
between  the  vines,  and  there  was  a  low  murmur  of  irre 
pressible  curiosity  and  delight. 

"We  do  not  see  many  strangers  in  this  lonely  land," 
said  Argiiello  apologetically.  "And  never  before  have 
we  had  so  distinguished  a  guest  as  your  excellency.  It 
was  always  a  gala  day  when  even  a  Boston  skipper 
came  in  with  a  few  bales  of  goods  and  a  complexion  like 
the  hides  we  sold  him.  Now,  alas!  they  are  no  longer 
permitted  to  enter  our  ports.  Governor  Arrillaga  will 
have  none  of  contraband  trade  and  slaying  of  our  otter. 
And  as  for  Europeans  other  than  Spaniards,  save  for 
an  English  sea  captain  now  and  then,  they  know  naught 
of  our  existence." 

8 


REZANOV  9 

But  Rezanov  had  not  come  to  California  on  the  im 
pulse  of  a  moment.  He  replied  suavely:  "There  you 
are  mistaken.  Your  illustrious  father,  Don  Jose  Mario 
de  Argiiello,  is  well  known  to  us  as  the  most  respected, 
eminent  and  influential  character  in  the  Californias.  It 
was  my  intention,  after  paying  a  visit  of  ceremony  to 
his  excellency,  Governor  Arrillaga,  to  come  to  San  Fran 
cisco  for  the  sole  purpose  of  meeting  a  man  whose  record 
has  inspired  me  with  the  deepest  interest.  And  we  have 
all  heard  such  wonderful  tales  of  your  California,  of 
its  beauty,  its  fertility,  of  the  beneficent  lives  of  your 
missionaries — so  different  from  ours! — and  of  the  hos 
pitality  and  elegance  of  the  Spaniards,  that  it  has  been 
the  objective  point  of  my  travels,  and  I  have  found  it 
difficult  to  curb  my  impatience  while  attending  to  im 
perative  duties  elsewhere. ' ' 

"Ay!  senor!"  exclaimed  the  young  Calif ornian. 
"What  you  say  fills  me  with  a  pride  I  cannot  express, 
and  I  can  only  regret  that  the  reports  of  our  poor  habi 
tations  should  be  so  sadly  exaggerated.  Such  as  our 
possessions  are,  however,  they  are  yours  while  you  deign 
to  remain  in  our  midst.  This  is  my  father's  house.  I 
beg  that  you  will  regard  it  as  your  own.  Burn  it  if  you 
will!"  he  cried  with  more  enthusiasm  than  commonly 
enlivened  the  phrases  of  hospitality.  * '  He  will  be  proud 
to  know  that  a  lifetime  of  severe  attention  to  duty  and 
of  devotion  to  his  King  have  won  him  fame  abroad  as 
well  as  at  home.  He  has  risen  to  his  present  position 
from  the  ranks,  but  he  is  of  pure  Spanish  blood,  not  a 
drop  of  Indian ;  and  my  mother  was  a  Moraga,  of  the 
best  blood  of  Spain,"  he  added  artlessly.  "As  to  the 
beauty  and  variety  of  our  country,  senor,  of  course  you 
will  visit  our  opulent  south;  but "  They  had  dis 
mounted  at  the  Commandante 's  house  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  square.  Argiiello  impulsively  led  Rezanov 
back  to  the  gates  and  pointed  to  the  east.  "I  have 
crossed  those  mountains  and  the  mountains  beyond, 
Excellency,  and  seen  fertile  and  beautiful  valleys  of  a 
vast  extent,  watered  by  five  rivers  and  bounded  far  far 


10  REZANOV 

away  by  mountains  covered  with  snow  and  gigantic 
trees.  The  valley  beyond  the  southern  edge  of  the  bay, 
where  the  Missions  of  Santa  Clara  and  San  Jose  are,  is 
also  rich,  but  those  between  the  two  ranges  is  an  empire ; 
and  one  day  when  the  King  sends  us  more  colonists, 
we  shall  recompense  Spain  for  all  she  has  lost. ' ' 

"I  congratulate  you!"  Rezanov,  indifferent  to  his 
host's  ancestral  tree,  had  lifted  an  alert  ear.  His  quick 
incisive  brain  was  at  work.  "I  should  like  to  stretch 
my  legs  over  a  horse  for  a  week  at  a  time,  and  even  to 
climb  your  highest  mountains.  You  may  imagine  how 
much  exercise  a  man  may  get  on  a  vessel  of  two  hun 
dred  and  six  tons,  and  it  is  thirty-two  days  since  I  left 
Sitka.  To  look  upon  a  vast  expanse  of  green — to  say 
nothing  of  possible  sport — after  a  winter  of  incessant 
rain  and  impenetrable  forests — what  a  prospect!  I  beg 
you  will  take  me  off  into  the  wilderness  as  soon  as  pos 
sible." 

"I  promise  you  the  Governor  shall  not  withhold  his 
consent — and  there  are  bear  and  deer — quail,  wild  duck 
— your  excellency  will  enjoy  that  beautiful  wild  country 
as  I  have  done."  Argiiello  was  enchanted  at  the  pros 
pect  of  fresh  adventure  in  the  company  of  this  fascinat 
ing  stranger.  ' '  But  we  are  once  more  at  our  poor  abode, 
senor.  I  beg  you  to  remember  that  it  is  your  own." 

They  ascended  the  steps  of  the  piazza,  suddenly  de 
serted,  and  it  seemed  to  Rezanov  that  every  sense  in 
his  being  quivered  responsively  to  the  poignant  sweet 
ness  of  the  Castilian  roses.  He  throbbed  with  a  sudden 
exultant  premonition  that  he  stood  on  the  threshold  of 
an  historic  future,  with  a  pagan  joy  in  mere  existence,  a 
sudden  rush  of  desire  for  the  keen  wild  happiness  of 
youth.  Such  is  the  elixir  of  California  in  the  north  and 
the  spring. 

They  entered  a  long  sala  typical  of  its  day  and  of 
many  to  come;  whitewashed  walls  hung  with  colored 
prints  of  the  Virgin  and  saints;  horsehair  furniture, 
matting,  deep  window  seats;  and  a  perennial  coolness. 
The  Chamberlain  (his  court  title  and  the  one  commonly 


REZANOV  11 

attached  to  his  name)  made  himself  as  comfortable  as 
the  slippery  chair  would  permit,  and  Argiiello  went  for 
his  mother. 

Langsdorff,  who  had  lingered  on  the  piazza  with  the 
priest,  entered  in  a  moment. 

"The  good  padre  tells  me  that  this  rose  of  Castile  is 
the  only  imported  flower  in  California,"  he  cried,  with 
enthusiasm,  for  although  not  a  botanist  there  was  a 
bump  between  his  eyes  as  big  as  a  child 's  fist  and  he  had 
a  nose  like  the  prow  of  a  toy  ship.  "Many  cuttings 
were  brought  from  Spain " 

' '  What  difference  does  it  make  where  it  came  from  ? ' ' 
interrupted  Rezanov  testily.  "Is  it  not  enough  that  it 
is  beautiful,  but  it  must  have  a  pin  stuck  through  it  like 
some  poor  devil ,of  a  butterfly?" 

"Your  excellency  has  also  the  habit  to  probe  into 
things  he  deems  worthy  of  his  attention,"  retorted  the 
offended  scientist;  but  he  was  obliged  to  closet  his 
wrath.  An  inner  door  opened  and  the  host  reappeared 
with  his  mother  and  a  fair  demonstration  of  her  virtues. 
She  was  a  very  large  woman  dressed  loosely  in  black, 
but  she  carried  herself  with  an  air  of  complete,  if  some 
what  sleepy,  dignity,  and  it  was  evident  that  her  beauty 
had  been  great.  Her  full  face  had  lost  its  contours, 
but  time  had  spared  the  fine  Roman  nose  and  the  white 
skin,  that  birthright  of  the  high-bred  Castilian.  Ar- 
giiello  presented  his  family  ceremoniously  as  the  guest 
of  honor  rose  and  bowed  with  formal  deference. 

' '  My  mother,  Dona  Ignacia  Argiiello,  your  excellency, 
who  unites  with  me  in  praying  that  you  will  regard  our 
home  as  yours  during  your  sojourn  in  the  north.  My 
sister,  Maria  de  la  Concepcion  Marcella  Argiiello,  and 
my  little  sisters,  Ana  Paula  and  Gertrudes  Rudisinda. 
My  brothers :  Gervasio — soldado  distinguido  of  the  San 
Francisco  Company ;  Santiago,  a  cadet  in  the  same  com 
pany;  Francesco  and  Toribio,  whose  presence  at  the 
table  I  beg  you  will  overlook,  for  when  we  are  so  fortu 
nate  as  to  be  all  together,  senor,  we  cannot  bear  to  be 
separated.  My  oldest  brother,  alas ! — Ignacio — is  study- 


12  REZANOV 

ing  for  holy  orders  in  Mexico,  and  my  sister  Isabel 
visits  at  the  Presidio  of  Santa  Barbara.  I  beg  that  you 
will  be  seated,  Excellency."  And  he  continued  the  in 
troduction  to  the  lesser  luminaries,  with  equal  courtesy 
but  fewer  periods. 

Rezanov  exchanged  a  few  pleasant  words  with  his 
smiling  hostess  before  she  returned  to  her  distracted 
maids  preparing  the  dinner;  but  his  eyes  during  Ar- 
giiello  's  declamation  had  wandered  with  a  singular  fidel 
ity  to  the  beautiful  face  of  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
house.  She  had  responded  with  a  humorous  twinkle  in 
her  magnificent  black  eyes  and  not  a  hint  of  diffidence. 
As  she  entered  the  room  his  brain  had  flashed  out  the 
thought:  "Thank  heaven  for  a  pretty  girl  after  these 
three  abominable  years!"  Possibly  his  pleasure  would 
have  been  salted  with  pique  had  he  guessed  that  her 
thought  was  the  twin  of  his  own.  He  was  the  first  man 
of  any  world  more  considerable  than  the  petty  court 
of  the  viceroy  of  Mexico  that  had  visited  California  in 
her  time,  and  excellent  as  she  found  his  tall  military 
figure  and  pale  cold  face,  the  novelty  of  the  circum 
stance  fluttered  her  more. 

Dona  "Concha"  Argiiello  was  the  beauty  of  Cali 
fornia,  and  although  her  years  were  but  sixteen  her 
blood  was  Spanish,  and  she  carried  her  tall  deep  figure 
and  fine  head  with  the  grace  and  dignity  of  an  accom 
plished  woman.  She  had  inherited  the  white  skin  and 
delicate  Roman-Spanish  profile  of  the  Moragas,  but 
there  was  an  intelligent  fire  in  her  eyes,  a  sharp  accen 
tuation  of  nostril,  and  a  full  mobility  of  mouth,  child 
ish,  half-developed  as  that  feature  still  was,  that  be 
trayed  a  strong  cross-current  forcing  the  placid  ma 
ternal  flow  into  rugged  and  unexplored  channels,  while 
assimilating  its  fine  qualities  of  pride  and  high  breed 
ing.  Gervasio  and  Santiago  resembled  their  sister  in 
coloring  and  pr.ofilc,  buji  lacked  her  subtle  quality  of 
personality  and  divine?  innocence.  Luis  was  more  the 
mother's  son  than  the  father's — saving  his  olive  skin; 
a  grandee,  modified  by  the  simplicities  of  a  soldier's 


REZANOV  13 

life,  amiable  and  upright.  Dona  Ignacia  recognized  in 
Concha  the  quintessence  of  the  two  opposing  streams, 
and  had  long  since  ceased  to  impose  upon  a  girl  who 
had  little  else  but  her  liberties,  the  conventional  restric 
tions  of  the  Spanish  maiden.  Concha  had  already  re 
ceived  many  offers  of  marriage  and  regarded  men  as 
mere  swingers  of  incense.  Moreover,  her  cultivated 
mind  was  filled  with  ideals  and  ideas  far  beyond  any 
thing  California  would  yield  in  her  day. 

As  Rezanov,  upon  Dona  Ignacia 's  retreat,  walked 
directly  over  to  her,  she  smilingly  seated  herself  on  a 
sofa  and  swept  aside  her  voluminous  white  skirts.  She 
was  not  sure  that  she  liked  him,  but  in  no  doubt  what 
ever  of  her  delight  at  his  advent. 

Her  manners  were  very  simple  and  artless,  as  are  the 
manners  of  most  women  whom  Nature  has  gifted  with 
complexity  and  depth.. 

"It  is  now  two  years  and  more  that  we  have  been 
excited  over  the  prospect  of  this  visit,"  she  said.  "But 
if  you  will  tell  me  what  you  have  been  doing  all  this 
time,  I,  at  least,  will  forgive  you ;  for  you  will  never  be 
able  to  imagine,  seiior,  how  I  long  to  hear  of  the  great 
world.  I  stare  at  the  map,  then  at  the  few  pictures  we 
have,  I  know  many  books  of  travel  by  heart;  but  I  am 
afraid  my  imagination  is  a  poor  one,  for  I  cannot  con 
jure  up  great  cities  filled  with  people — thousands  of 
people!  Dios  de  mi  alma!  A  world  where  there  is 
something  besides  mountains  and  water,  grain  fields, 
orchards,  forests,  earthquakes,  and  climate!  Will  you, 
senor?" 

' '  For  quite  as  many  hours  as  you  will  listen  to  me.  I 
propose  a  compact.  You  shall  improve  my  Spanish. 
I  will  impart  all  I  know  of  Europe — and  of  Asia — if 
your  curiosity  reaches  that  far." 

"Even  of  Japan?"  There  was  a  wicked  sparkle 
in  her  eye. 

"I  see  you  already  have  some  knowledge  of  the  cause 
of  my  delay. "  His  voice  was  even,  but  a  wound  smarted. 
"It  is  quite  true,  senorita,  that  the  first  embassy  to 


14  REZANOV 

Japan,  from  which  we  hoped  so  much,  was  a  humiliat 
ing  failure,  and  that  I  was  played  with  for  six  months 
by  a  people  whom  we  had  regarded  as  a  nation  of 
monkeys.  When  my  health  began  to  suffer  from  the 
long  confinement  on  shipboard — we  had  previously  been 
fourteen  months  at  sea — and  I  asked  to  be  permitted  to 
live  on  shore  while  my  claims  to  an  audience  were  under 
consideration,  I  was  removed  with  my  suite  to  a  cage 
on  a  strip  of  land  nearly  surrounded  with  water,  where 
I  had  less  liberty  and  exercise  than  on  shipboard.  Final 
ly,  I  had  a  ridiculous  interview  with  a  'great  man,'  in 
which  I  accomplished  nothing  but  the  preservation  of 
what  personal  dignity  a  man  may  while  sitting  on  his 
heels;  the  superb  presents  of  the  Tsar  were  returned  to 
me,  and  I  was  politely  told  to  leave;  Japan  wanted 
neither  the  friendship  of  Russia  nor  her  gimcracks. 
That,  senorita,  is  the  history  of  the  first  Russian  Em 
bassy — for  the  tentative  visit  of  Adam  Lanxmann, 
twelve  years  before,  can  be  dignified  by  no  such  title — 
to  Oriental  waters.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Count  Golof- 
kin,  who  was  to  undertake  a  similar  mission  to  China, 
has  met  with  a  better  fate." 

Underneath  the  polished  armor  of  a  man  who  was  a 
courtier  when  he  chose  and  the  dominating  spirit  al 
ways,  he  was  hot  and  quick  of  temper.  His  light  cold 
eyes  glowed  with  resentment  at  the  dancing  lights  in 
hers,  as  he  cynically  gave  her  a  bald  abstract  of  the 
unfortunate  mission.  He  reflected  that  commonly  he 
would  have  fitted  a  different  mask  to  the  ugly  skull  of 
fact,  but  this  young  barbarian,  as  he  chose  to  regard 
her,  excited  the  elemental  truth  in  him,  defying  him  to 
appear  at  his  worst.  He  was  astonished  to  see  her  eyes 
suddenly  soften  and  her  mouth  tremble. 

"It  must  have  been  a  hateful  experience — hateful!" 
Her  voice,  beginning  on  its  usual  low  soft  note,  rose  to 
a  hoarse  pitch  of  indignation.  "I  should  have  killed 
somebody!  To  be  a  man,  and  strong,  and  caressed  all 
one's  life  by  fortune — and  to  be  as  helpless  as  an  In 
dian  !  Madre  de  Dios ! " 


REZANOV  15 

"I  shall  take  my  revenge,"  said  Rezanov  shortly;  but 
the  wound  closed,  and  once  more  he  became  aware  of 
the  poignant  sweetness  of  Castilian  roses.  Concha  wore 
one  in  her  soft  dusky  hair,  and  another  where  the  little 
round  jacket  of  white  linen,  gaily  embroidered  with 
pink,  met  on  her  bosom.  But  if  sentiment  tempted  him, 
he  was  quickly  poised  by  her  next  remarks.  She  uttered 
them  in  a  low  tone,  although  the  animated  conversation 
of  the  rest  of  the  party  would  have  permitted  the  two 
on  the  sofa  to  exchange  the  vows  of  love  unheard. 

"But  what  a  practice  for  your  diplomatic  talents, 
Excellency!  Poor  California!  At  least  let  me  be  the 
first  to  hear  what  you  have  come  for?"  Her  voice 
dropped  to  a  soft  cooing  note,  although  her  eyes  twin 
kled.  "For  the  love  of  God,  senor!  I  am  so  bored  in 
this  life  on  the  edge  of  the  world!  To  see  the  seams 
and  ravelings  of  a  diplomatic  intrigue !  I  have  read  and 
heard  of  many,  but  never  had  I  hoped  to  link  my  finger 
in  anything  subtler  than  a  quarrel  between  priest  and 
Governor,  or  the  jealousy  of  Los  Angeles  for  Monterey. 
I  even  will  help  you — if  you  mean  no  harm  to  my  father 
or  my  country.  And  I  am  not  a  friend  to  scorn,  senor, 
for  my  blessed  father  is  as  wax  in  my  hands,  the  dear 
old  Governor  adores  me,  and  even  Padre  Abella,  who 
thinks  himself  a  great  diplomat,  and  is  watching  us  out 
of  the  corner  of  his  eye,  while  I  make  him  believe  you 
pay  me  so  many  compliments  my  poor  little  head  turns 
round — Bueno  senor!"  As  she  raised  her  voice  she 
plucked  the  rose  from  her  dress  and  tossed  it  to  Reza 
nov.  Then  she  lifted  her  chin  and  pouted  her  childish 
lips  at  the  ironical  smile  of  the  priest. 

Kezanov  was  close  to  betraying  his  surprise ;  but  as  he 
cherished  a  belief  that  the  souls  of  all  pretty  women 
went  to  school  to  the  devil  before  entering  upon  earthly 
enterprise,  he  wondered  that  he  had  been  open  to  the 
illusion  of  complete  ingenuousness  in  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  oldest  and  subtlest  civilizations  of  earth. 
Within  that  luminous  shell  of  youth  there  were,  no 
doubt,  whispering  memories  of  men  and  women  steeped 


16  REZANOV 

in  court  intrigue  to  the  eyes,  of  triumphant  beauties 
that  had  lived  for  love  and  their  power  over  the  pas 
sions  of  men  as  ardent  as  himself.  It  was  quite  possible 
that  she  might  be  as  useful  as  she  desired.  But  his 
impulses  were  in  leash.  He  merely  looked  and  mur 
mured  his  admiration. 

"Better  ask,  what  chance  have  I,  a  defenceless  man, 
who  has  not  seen  a  charming  woman  for  three  years, 
against  such  practised  art?  If  you  can  hoodwink  a 
Spanish  priest,  and  manipulate  a  Governor  who  has  won 
the  confidence  of  the  most  suspicious  court  in  Europe, 
what  fortune  for  a  barbarian  of  the  north?  Less  than 
with  Japan,  I  should  think." 

He  divested  the  rose  of  its  thorns  and  many  tight 
little  buds,  and  thrust  the  stem  underneath  the  star  of 
St.  Ann.  She  lifted  her  chin  again  and  tossed  her  head. 

"You  do  not  trust  me,  but  you  will.  I  fancy  it  will 
be  before  long — for  it  is  quite  true  that  the  Californians 
are  not  so  easily  outwitted.  And — even  did  I  not  help 
you,  I  would  not — I  vow,  seiior! — betray  you.  Is  it 
true  that  Russia  is  at  war  with  Spain  ? ' ' 

"What?" 

"Have  you  not  heard?  It  was  for  that  we  were  all 
so  excited  this  morning.  We  thought  your  ship  might 
be  the  first  of  a  fleet." 

' '  I  have  heard  no  such  rumor,  and  you  may  dismiss  it. 
Russia  is  too  much  occupied  with  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
who  has  had  himself  crowned  Emperor,  and  by  this  time 
is  probably  at  war  with  half  Europe " 

She  interrupted  him  with  flashing  eyes.  The  pink  in 
her  cheeks  had  turned  red.  The  thin  nostrils  of  her 
pretty  Roman  nose  fluttered  like  paper.  "Ah!"  she 
exclaimed,  again  with  that  note  of  hoarseness  in  her 
voice.  "There  is  a  great  man,  not  a  mere  king  on  a 
throne  his  ancestors  made  for  him.  Papa  hates  him 
because  he  has  seized  a  throne.  Ay  yi!  Dios!  you 
should  hear  the  words  fly  when  we  go  to  war  together. 
But  I  do  not  care  that" — she  snapped  her  firm  white 
fingers — "for  all  the  Bourbons  that  are  in  Europe. 


REZANOV  17 

Bonaparte!  Do  you  know  him  Have  you  seen  him?" 
"I  have  seen  him  insult  poor  Markov,  our  ambassa 
dor  to  France,  when  I  can  assure  you  that  he  looked 
like  neither  a  demi-god  nor  a  gentleman.  "When  you 
have  improved  my  Spanish  I  will  tell  you  many  anec 
dotes  of  him.  Meanwhile,  am  I  to  assume  that  you  re 
serve  your  admiration  for  the  man  that  carves  his  ca 
reer  in  defiance  of  the  rusty  old  machinery?" 

"I  do!  I  do!  My  father  was  of  the  people,  a  poor 
boy.  He  has  risen  to  be  the  most  powerful  of  all  Cali- 
fornians,  although  the  King  he  adores  never  makes  him 
Gobernador  Propietario.  I  tell  him  he  should  be  the 
first  to  recognize  the  genius  and  the  ambitions  of  a 
Bonaparte.  The  mere  thought  horrifies  him.  But  in 
me  that  same  strong  plebeian  blood  makes  another  cry, 
and  if  my  father  had  but  enough  men  at  his  back,  and 
the  will  to  make  himself  King  of  the  Californias — 
Madre  de  Dios !  how  I  should  help  him ! ' ' 

"At  least  I  know  her  better  than  she  knows  me," 
thought  Rezanov,  as  the  inner  door  was  thrown  open  and 
another  bare  room  with  a  long  table  laden  with  savory 
food  on  a  superb  silver  service  was  revealed.  ' '  And  if  I 
know  anything  of  women,  I  can  trust  her — for  as  long 
as  she  may  be  necessary,  at  all  events." 


Ill 

"SANTIAGO!"  whispered  Concha.  "Do  not  go  down 
to  the  ship.  Take  me  for  a  walk.  I  have  much  to 
say." 

Santiago,  who  had  not  been  asked  to  form  one  of 
the  escort  upon  the  return  of  the  Russians  to  the 
Juno  for  the  night,  felt  injured  and  sulky  and  deigned 
no  reply. 

"If  you  do  not,  I'll  not  braid  your  hair  to-morrow," 
said  his  sister,  giving  his  arm  a  little  shake;  and  he 
succumbed.  The  luxuriant  tresses  of  the  male  Argiiellos 
were  combed  and  braided  and  tied  with  a  ribbon  every 
morning  by  the  women  of  the  family,  and  Concha's 
fingers  were  the  gentlest  and  deftest.  And  Concha 
and  Santiago  were  more  intimate  than  even  the  rest 
of  that  united  family.  They  had  studied  and  read 
together,  were  equally  dissatisfied  with  their  narrow 
existence,  ambitious  for  a  wider  experience.  Santiago 
consoled  himself  with  cards  and  training  roosters  for 
battle,  and  otherwise  as  a  man  may.  He  was  but 
fifteen,  this  haughty  severe-looking  young  hidalgo,  but 
while  in  some  respects  many  years  older  than  his  sister, 
in  others  he  was  younger,  for  he  possessed  none  of 
her  illuminating  instinct. 

She  led  him  through  a  postern  gate,  round  the  first 
of  the  dunes,  and  they  were  alone  in  a  waste  of  sand. 
She  demanded  abruptly: 

"What  do  you  think  of  our  illustrious  visitor?" 

"I  like  him.  He  would  wring  your  neck  if  you  got 
in  his  way,  but  has  a  kind  heart  for  those  that  call 
him  master.  I  like  that  sort  of  a  man.  I  wish  he  would 
take  me  away  with  him." 

"He  shall — one  of  these  days.    Santiago  mio,  let  me 

18 


REZANOV  19 

whisper "     She  pulled  his  ear  down  to  her  lips. 

"He  will  marry  me.  I  feel  it.  I  know  it.  He  has 
talked  to  me  the  whole  day.  He  has  told  me  grave 
secrets.  Not  even  to  you  would  I  reveal  them.  So  many 
have  loved  me — why  should  not  he?  I  shall  live  in  St. 
Petersburg,  and  see  all  Europe ! — thousands  of  people — 
Dios  mio!  Dios  mio!" 

"Indeed!"  Santiago,  still  unamiable,  responded  to 
this  confidence  with  a  sneer.  "You  aspire  very  high 
for  a  little  girl  of  the  wilderness,  without  fortune, 
and  only  half  a  coat-of-arms,  so  to  speak.  Do  you  know 
that  this  Rezanov — Dr.  Langsdorff  has  told  us  all  about 
him — is  a  great  noble,  one  of  the  ten  barons  of 
Russia,  and  a  Chamberlain  in  accordance  with  a  de 
cree  of  Peter  the*  Great  that  court  titles  should  be 
bestowed  as  a  reward  for  distinguished  services  alone? 
He  got  a  fortune  in  his.  youth  by  marriage  with  a 
daughter  of  Shelikov — that  Siberian  who  founded  the 
Russian  colonies  in  America.  The  wife  died  almost 
immediately,  but  the  Baron's  influence  remained  with 
Shelikov — for  his  influence  at  court  was  even  greater — 
and  after  the  older  man's  death,  with  his  mother-in- 
law,  who  is  uncommonly  clever.  Shelikov 's  schemes 
were  but  sketches  beside  Rezanov 's,  who  from  merely  a 
courtier  and  a  gay  blood  about  town  developed  into  a 
great  man  of  business,  with  an  ambition  to  correspond. 
It  was  he  who  got  the  Imperial  ukase  that  gave  the 
Russian-American  Company  its  power  to  squeeze  all 
the  other  fur  hunters  and  traders  out  of  the  northeast, 
and  make  Rezanov  and  everybody  belonging  to  it  so 
rich  your  head  would  swim  if  I  told  you  the  number 
of  doubloons  they  spend  in  a  year.  Nobody  has  ever 
been  so  clever  at  managing  those  old  beasts  of  autocrats 
as  he.  They  think  him  merely  the  accomplished  courtier, 
a  brilliant  dilettante,  a  condescending  patron  of  art  and 
letters,  a  devotee  of  pleasure,  and  all  the  time  he  is 
pulling  their  befuddled  old  brains  about  to  suit  him 
self.  The  Tsar  Paul  was  a  lunatic  and  they  murdered 
him,  but  meanwhile  he  signed  the  ukase.  The  Tsar 


20  REZANOV 

Alexander,  who  is  not  so  bad  nor  so  silly  as  the  others, 
thinks  there  is  no  man  so  clever  as  Rezanov,  who 
addresses  him  personally  when  sending  home  his  re 
ports.  Do  you  know  what  all  that  means?  Your  pleni 
potentiary  is  not  only  a  Chamberlain  at  court,  a  Privy 
Councillor,  and  the  Tsar  himself  on  this  side  of  the 
world,  but  when  his  inspections  and  reforms  are  con 
cluded,  and  he  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  Russia, 
he  will  return  to  St.  Petersburg  and  become  so  high  and 
mighty  that  a  princess  would  snap  at  him.  And  you 
aspire!  I  never  heard  such  nonsense." 

"His  excellency  told  me  much  of  this,"  replied 
Concha  imperturbably.  "And  I  am  sure  that  he  cares 
nothing  for  princesses  and  will  marry  whom  he  most 
admires.  He  would  not  say,  but  I  know  he  cared  noth 
ing  for  that  poor  little  wife,  dead  so  long  ago.  It  was 
a  mariage  de  convenance,  such  as  all  the  great  world 
is  accustomed  to.  He  will  love  me  more  than  all  the 
fine  ladies  he  has  ever  seen.  I  feel  it !  I  know  it !  And 
I  am  quite  happy." 

"Do  you  love  him?"  asked  Santiago,  looking  curi 
ously  at  his  sister 's  flushed  and  glowing  face.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  she  had  never  looked  so  young.  "Many 
have  loved  you.  I  had  begun  to  think  you  had  no 
heart  for  men,  no  wish  for  anything  but  admiration. 
And  now  you  give  your  heart  in  a  day  to  this  Russian 
— who  must  be  nearly  forty — unasked." 

' '  I  have  not  thought  of  my  heart  at  all.  But  I  could 
love  him,  of  course.  He  is  so  handsome,  so  kind,  so 
grand,  so  gay !  But  love  is  for  men  and  wives — has  not 
my  mother  said  so?  Now  I  think  only  of  St.  Peters 
burg!  of  Paris!  of  London!  of  the  beautiful  gowns  and 
jewels  I  shall  wear  at  court — a  red  velvet  train  as  long 
as  a  queen's,  and  all  embroidered  with  gold,  a  white 
veil  spangled  with  gold,  a  head-dress  a  foot  high  studded 
with  jewels,  ropes  of  diamonds  and  pearls — I  made  him 
tell  me  how  the  great  ladies  dressed.  Ah!  there  is  the 
pleasure  of  being  a  girl — to  think  and  dream  of  all  those 
beautiful  things,  not  of  when  the  wife  must  live  always 


REZANOV  21 

for  the  husband  and  children.  That  comes  soon  enough. 
And  why  should  I  not  have  all!  all! — there  is  so  little 
in  life  for  the  girl.  It  seems  to  me  now  that  I  have 
had  nothing.  When  he  asks  me  to  marry  him  he  will 
tell  me  of  the  fine  things  I  shall  have  and  the  great 
sights  I  shall  witness — the  ceremonies  at  court,  the  win 
ter  streets — with  snow — snow,  Santiago! — where  the 
great  nobles  drive  four  horses  through  the  drifts  like 
little  hills,  and  are  wrapped  in  furs  like  bears!  The 
grand  military  parades — how  I  shall  laugh  when  I 
think  of  our  poor  little  Presidios  with  their  dozen  officers 
strutting  about "  She  stopped  abruptly  and  burst 
ing  wildly  into  tears  flung  herself  into  her  brother's 
arms.  ' '  But  I  never  could  leave  you !  And  my  father ! 
my  mother!  all!  ajl!  Ay,  Dios  de  mi  alma!  what  an 
ingrate  I  am !  I  should  die  of  homesickness !  My  San 
tiago!  My  Santiago!" 

Santiago  patted  her  philosophically.  "You  are  not 
going  to-morrow,"  he  reminded  her.  "Don't  cross  your 
bridges  until  you  come  to  them.  That  is  a  good  proverb 
for  maids  and  men.  You  might  take  us  all  with  you, 
or  spend  every  third  year  or  so  in  California.  No  doubt 
you  would  need  the  rest.  And  meanwhile  remember 
that  the  high  and  mighty  Chamberlain  has  not  yet  asked 
for  the  honor  of  an  alliance  with  the  house  of  Argiiello, 
and  that  your  brother  will  match  his  best  fighting  cock 
against  your  new  white  lace  mantilla  from  Mexico,  that 
he  is  not  meditating  any  project  so  detrimental  to  his 
fortunes.  Console  yourself  with  the  reflection  that  if  he 
were,  our  father  and  the  priests,  and  the  Governor  him 
self,  would  die  of  apoplexy.  He  is  a  heretic — a  member 
of  the  Greek  Church!  Hast  thou  lost  thy  reason, 
Conchita?  Dry  your  eyes  and  come  home  to  sleep,  and 
let  us  hear  no  more  of  marriage  with  a  man  who  is  not 
only  a  barbarian  of  the  north  and  a  heretic,  but  so 
proud  he  does  not  think  a  Californian  good  enough  to 
wash  his  decks." 


IV 

IT  was  long  before  Rezanov  slept  that  night.  The  usual 
chill  had  come  in  from  the  Pacific  as  the  sun  went  down, 
and  the  distinguished  visitor  had  intimated  to  his  hosts 
that  he  should  like  to  exercise  on  shore  until  ready  for 
his  detested  quarters;  but  Argiiello  dared  not,  in  the 
absence  of  his  father,  invite  the  foreigner  even  to  sleep 
in  the  house  so  lavishly  offered  in  the  morning ;  although 
he  had  sent  such  an  abundance  of  provisions  to  the  ship 
that  the  poor  sailors  were  deep  in  sleep,  gorged  like 
boa-constrictors ;  and  he  could  safely  promise  that  while 
the  Juno  remained  in  port  her  larder  should  never  be 
empty.  He  shared  the  evening  bowl  of  punch  in  the 
cabin,  then  went  his  way  lamenting  that  he  could  not 
take  his  new  friends  with  him. 

Rezanov  paced  the  little  deck  of  the  Juno  to  keep  his 
blood  in  stir.  There  was  no  moon.  Tho  islands  and 
promontories  on  the  great  sheet  of  water  were  black 
save  for  the  occasional  glow  of  an  Indian  camp-fire. 
There  was  not  a  sound  but  the  lapping  of  the  waves, 
the  roar  of  distant  breakers.  The  great  silver  stars 
and  the  little  green  stars  looked  down  upon  a  solitude 
that  was  almost  primeval,  yet  mysteriously  disturbed 
by  the  restless  currents  in  the  brain  of  a  man  who 
had  little  in  common  with  primal  forces. 

Rezanov  was  uneasy  on  more  scores  than  one.  He 
was  annoyed  and  mortified  at  the  discovery — made  over 
the  punch  bowl — that  the  girl  he  had  taken  to  be  twenty 
was  but  sixteen.  It  was  by  no  means  his  first  experi 
ence  of  the  quick  maturity  of  southern  women — but 
sixteen!  He  had  never  wasted  a  moment  on  a  chit 
before,  and  although  he  was  a  man  of  imagination,  and 
notwithstanding  her  intelligence  and  dignity,  he  could 

22 


REZANOV  23 

not  reconcile  properties  so  conflicting  with  any  sort  of 
feminine  ideal. 

And  the  pressing  half  of  his  mission  he  had  confided 
to  her!  No  man  knew  better  than  he  the  value  of  a 
tactful  and  witty  woman  in  the  political  dilemmas  of 
life;  more  than  one  had  given  him  devoted  service,  nor 
ever  yet  had  he  made  a  mistake.  After  several  hours 
spent  in  the  society  of  this  clever  politic  dissatisfied 
girl  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  could  trust 
her,  and  had  told  her  of  the  lamentable  condition  of 
the  creatures  in  the  employ  of  the  Russian- American 
Company;  of  their  chronic  state  of  semi-starvation,  of 
the  scurvy  that  made  them  apathetic  of  brain  and  body, 
and  eventually  would  exterminate  them  unless  he  could 
establish  reciprocat  trade  relations  with  California  and 
obtain  regular  supplies  of  farinaceous  food;  acknowl 
edged  that  he  had  brought  a  cargo  of  Russian  and 
Boston  goods  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the  Missions 
and  Presidios,  and  that  he  would  not  return  to  the 
wretched  people  of  Sitka,  at  least,  without  a  generous 
exchange  of  breadstuffs,  dried  meats,  peas,  beans,  barley 
and  tallow.  Not  only  had  he  no  longer  the  courage 
to  witness  their  misery,  but  his  fortune  and  his  career 
were  at  stake.  His  entire  capital  was  invested  in  the 
Company  he  had  founded,  and  he  had  failed  in  his 
embassy  to  Japan — to  the  keen  mortification  of  the 
Tsar  and  the  jubilation  of  his  enemies.  If  he  left  the 
Emperor's  northeastern  dominions  unreclaimed  and 
failed  to  rescue  the  Company  from  its  precarious  con 
dition,  he  hardly  should  care  to  return  to  St.  Peters 
burg. 

Dona  Concha  had  listened  to  this  eloquent  harangue — 
they  sat  alone  at  one  end  of  the  long  sala  while  Luis 
at  the  other  toiled  over  letters  to  the  Governor  and  his 
father  advising  them  of  the  formidable  honor  of  the 
Russian's  visit — in  exactly  the  temper  he  would  have 
chosen.  Her  fine  eyes  had  melted  and  run  over  at  the 
moving  tale  of  the  sufferings  of  the  servants  of  the 
Company — until  his  own  had  softened  in  response  and 


24  REZANOV 

he  had  impulsively  kissed  her  hand;  they  had  dilated 
and  flashed  as  he  spoke  of  his  personal  apprehensions; 
and  when  he  had  given  her  a  practical  explanation  of 
his  reasons  for  coming  to  California  she  had  given  him 
advice  as  practical  in  return. 

He  must  withhold  from  her  father  and  the  Governor 
the  fact  of  his  pressing  need;  they  were  high  officials 
with  an  inflexible  sense  of  duty,  and  did  all  they  could 
to  enforce  the  law  against  trading  with  foreigners.  He 
was  to  maintain  the  fiction  of  belting  the  globe,  but 
admit  that  he  had  indulged  in  a  dream  of  commercial 
relations — for  a  benefit  strictly  mutual — between  neigh 
bors  as  close  as  the  Spanish  and  Russians  in  America. 
This  would  interest  them — what  would  not,  on  the  edge 
of  the  world  ? — and  they  would  agree  to  lay  the  matter, 
reinforced  by  a  strong  personal  plea,  before  the  Viceroy 
of  Mexico;  who  in  turn  would  send  it  to  the  Cabinet 
and  King  at  Madrid.  Meanwhile,  he  was  to  confide  in 
the  priests  at  the  Mission.  Not  only  would  their  sym 
pathies  be  enlisted,  but  they  did  much  trading  under 
the  very  nose  of  the  government.  Not  for  personal  gain 
— they  were  vowed  to  a  life  of  poverty;  but  for  their 
Indian  converts,  and  there  were  twelve  hundred  at  the 
Mission  of  San  Francisco,  they  would  wink  at  many 
things  condemnable  in  the  abstract.  He  had  engaged 
to  visit  them  on  the  morrow,  and  he  must  take  presents 
to  tempt  their  impersonal  cupidity,  and  invite  them  to 
inspect  the  rest  of  his  wares — which  the  Governor  would 
be  informed  he  had  been  forced  to  buy  with  tlie  Juno 
from  the  Yankee  skipper,  D  'Wolf,  and  woul J.  rid  himself 
of  did  opportunity  offer. 

Rezanov  had  never  received  sounder  advice,  and  had 
promptly  accepted  it.  Now,  as  he  reflected  that  it  had 
been  given  by  a  girl  of  sixteen,  he  was  divided  between 
admiration  of  her  precocity  and  fear  lest  she  prove  to 
be  too  young  to  keep  a  secret.  Moreover,  there  were 
other  considerations. 

Rezanov,  although  in  his  earlier  years  he  had  so  far 
sacrificed  his  interests  and  played  into  the  hands  of 


REZANOV  25 

his  enemies,  in  avoiding  the  too  embarrassing  partiality 
of  Catherine  the  Great,  had  nevertheless  held  a  high 
place  at  court  by  right  of  birth,  and  been  a  man  of  the 
world  always;  rarely  absent  from  St.  Petersburg  dur 
ing  the  last  and  least  susceptible  part  of  the  imperial 
courtesan's  life,  the  brief  reign  of  Paul,  and  the  two 
years  between  the  accession  of  Alexander  and  the  sailing 
of  the  Nadeshda.  Moreover,  there  was  hardly  another 
court  of  importance  in  Europe  with  which  he  was  not 
familiar,  and  few  men  had  had  a  more  complete  ex 
perience  of  life.  And  the  life  of  a  courtier,  a  diplomat, 
a  traveller,  noble,  wealthy,  agreeable  to  women  by 
divine  right,  with  active  enemies  and  a  horde  of  flat 
terers,  in  daily  contact  with  the  meaner  and  more  dis 
ingenuous  corners  of  human  nature,  is  not  conducive 
to  a  broad  optimism  and  a  sweet  and  immutable  Chris 
tianity.  Rezanov  inevitably  was  more  or  less  cynical 
and  blase,  and  too  long  versed  in  the  ways  of  courts  and 
courtiers  to  retain  more  than  a  whimsical  tolerance  of 
the  naked  truth  and  an  appreciation  of  its  excellence 
as  a  diplomatic  manoeuvre.  Nevertheless,  he  was  by 
nature  too  impetuous  ever  to  become  under  any  provo 
cation  a  dishonest  man,  and  too  normally  a  gentleman 
to  deviate  from  a  certain  personal  code  of  honor.  He 
might  come  to  California  with  fair  words  and  a  very 
definite  intention  of  annexing  it  to  Russia  at  the  first 
opportunity,  but  he  was  incapable  of  abusing  the  hos 
pitality  of  the  Argiiellos  by  making  love  to  their  sixteen- 
year-old  daughter.  Had  she  been  of  the  years  he  had 
assumed,  he  would  have  had  less  scruple  in  embarking 
upon  a  flirtation,  both  for  the  pastime  and  the  use  he 
might  make  of  her.  A  Spanish  beauty  of  twenty,  still 
unmarried,  would  be  more  than  his  match.  But  a  child, 
however  precocious,  inevitably  would  fall  in  love  with 
the  first  uncommon  stranger  she  met ;  and  Rezanov,  less 
vain  than  most  men  of  his  kind,  and  with  a  fundamental 
humanity  that  was  the  chief  cause  in  his  efforts  to 
improve  the  condition  of  his  wretched  promuschleniki, 
had  no  taste  for  the  role  of  heart-breaker. 


26  REZANOV 

But  the  girl  had  proved  her  timeliness;  would,  if 
trustworthy,  be  of  further  use  in  inclining  her  father 
and  the  Governor  toward  such  of  his  designs  as  he  had 
any  intention  of  revealing;  and,  weighing  carefully  his 
conversations  with  her,  he  was  disposed  to  believe  that 
she  would  screen  and  abet  him  through  vanity  and  love 
of  intrigue.  After  the  dinner,  in  the  seclusion  of  the 
sala,  he  had  taken  pains  to  explore  for  the  causes  of 
her  mental  maturity.  Concha  had  told  him  of  Don 
Jose  Argiiello  's  ambition  that  his  children  in  their  youth 
should  have  the  education  he  had  been  forced  to  acquire 
in  his  manhood;  he  had  taught  them  himself,  and  not 
withstanding  his  piety  and  the  disapproval  of  the  priests, 
had  permitted  them  to  read  the  histories,  travels,  and 
biographies  he  received  once  a  year  from  the  City  of 
Mexico.  Rezanov  had  met  Madame  de  Stae'l  and  other 
bas  bleus,  and  given  them  no  more  of  his  society  than 
politeness  demanded,  but  although  astonished  at  the 
amount  of  information  this  young  girl  had  assimilated, 
he  found  nothing  in  her  manner  of  wearing  her  intel 
lectual  crown  to  offend  his  fastidious  taste.  She  was 
wholly  artless  in  her  love  of  books  and  of  discussing 
them;  and  nothing  in  their  contents  had  disturbed  the 
sweetest  innocence  he  had  ever  met.  Of  the  little  arts 
of  coquetry  she  was  mistress  by  inheritance  and  much 
provocation,  but  her  unawakened  inner  life  breathed  the 
simplicity  and  purity  of  the  elemental  roses  that  hov 
ered  about  her  in  his  thoughts.  Her  very  unsuscepti- 
bility  made  the  game  more  dangerous ;  if  it  piqued  him — 
and  he  aspired  to  be  no  more  than  human — he  either 
should  have  to  marry  her,  or  nurse  a  sore  spot  in  his 
conscience  for  the  rest  of  his  life;  and  for  neither 
alternative  had  he  the  least  relish. 

He  dismissed  the  subject  at  last  with  an  impatient 
shrug.  Perhaps  he  was  a  conceited  ass,  as  his  English 
friends  would  say ;  perhaps  the  Governor  would  be  more 
amenable  than  she  had  represented.  No  man  could 
forecast  events.  It  was  enough  to  be  forearmed. 

But  his  thoughts  swung  to  a  theme  as  little  disbur- 


REZANOV  27 

dening.  His  needs,  as  he  had  confided  to  Concha,  were 
very  pressing.  The  dry  or  frozen  fish,  the  sea-dogs,  the 
fat  of  whales,  upon  which  the  employees  of  the  Com 
pany  were  forced  to  subsist  in  the  least  hospitable 
of  climes,  had  ravaged  them  with  scorbutic  diseases  until 
their  numbers  were  so  reduced  by  death  and  desertion 
that  there  was  danger  of  depopulation  and  the  conse 
quent  bankruptcy  of  the  Company.  Since  June  of  the 
preceding  year  until  his  departure  from  New  Archangel 
in  the  previous  month,  he  had  been  actively  engaged  in 
inspection  of  the  Company's  holdings  from  Kamchatka 
to  Sitka:  reforming  abuses,  establishing  schools  and 
libraries,  conceiving  measures  to  protect  the  fur-bearing 
animals  from  reckless  slaughter  both  by  the  pro- 
muschleniki  and, marauding  foreigners;  punishing  and 
banishing  the  worst  offenders  against  the  Company's 
laws;  encouraging  the  faithful,  and  sharing  hardships 
with  them  that  sent  memories  of  former  luxuries  and 
pleasures  scurrying  off  to  the  realms 'of  fantasy.  But 
his  rule  would  be  incomplete  and  his  efforts  end  in 
failure  if  the  miserable  Russians  and  natives  in  the 
employ  of  the  Company  were  not  vitalized  by  proper 
food  and  cheered  with  the  hope  of  its  permanence. 

In  Santiago's  story  of  the  Russian  visitor's  achieve 
ments  and  status  there  was  the  common  mingling  of 
truth  and  fiction  the  exalted  never  fail  to  inspire.  Reza- 
nov,  although  he  had  accomplished  great  ends  against 
greater  odds,  was  too  little  of  a  courtier  at  heart  ever 
to  have  been  a  prime  favorite  in  St.  Petersburg  until 
the  accession  of  a  ruler  with  whom  he  had  something  in 
common.  A  dissolute  woman  and  a  crack-brained  despot 
were  the  last  to  appreciate  an  original  and  independent 
mind,  and  the  seclusion  of  Alexander  had  been  so  com 
plete  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father  that  Rezanov 
barely  had  known  him  by  sight.  But  the  Tsarovitz, 
enthusiastic  for  reform  and  a  passionate  admirer  of 
enterprise,  knew  of  Rezanov,  and  no  sooner  did  he 
mount  his  gory  throne  than  he  confirmed  the  Chamber 
lain  in  his  enterprise,  and  two  years  later  made  him  a 


28  REZANOV 

Privy  Counsellor,  invested  him  with  the  order  of  St. 
Ann,  and  chose  him  for  the  critical  embassy  to  the 
verdant  realm  with  the  blind  and  gateless  walls. 

Rezanov  had  conquered  so  far  in  life  even  less  by 
address  than  by  the  demonstration  of  abilities  very 
singular  in  a  man  of  his  birth  and  education.  When 
he  met  Shelikov,  during  the  Siberian  merchant-trader's 
visit  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1788,  he  was  a  young 
man  with  little  interest  in  life  outside  of  its  pleas 
ures,  and  a  patrimony  that  enabled  him  to  com 
mand  them  to  no  great  extent  and  barely  to  main 
tain  the  dignity  of  his  rank.  Shelikov 's  plan  to  obtain 
a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  in  the  islands  and  terri 
tories  added  by  his  Company  to  Russia,  possibly  through 
out  the  entire  possession,  thus  preventing  the  destruc 
tion  of  sables,  seals,  otters,  and  foxes  by  small  traders 
and  foreigners,  interested  him  at  once;  or  possibly  he 
was  merely  fascinated  at  first  by  the  shrewd  and  daunt 
less  representative  of  a  class  with  which  he  had  never 
before  come  in  contact.  The  accidental  acquaintance 
ripened  into  intimacy,  Rezanov  became  a  partner  in  the 
Shelikov-Golikov  Company,  and  married  the  daughter 
of  his  new  friend.  After  the  death  of  his  father-in- 
law,  in  1795,  his  ambitions  and  business  abilities,  now 
fully  awake,  prompted  him  to  obtain  for  himself  and 
his  partners  rights  analogous  to  those  granted  by  Eng 
land  to  the  East  India  Company.  Shelikov  had  won 
little  more  than  half  the  power  and  privileges  he  had 
solicited  of  Catherine,  although  he  had  amalgamated 
the  two  leading  companies,  drawn  in  several  others,  and 
built  ships  and  factories  and  forts  to  protect  them. 
And  if  the  regnant  merchants  made  large  fortunes,  the 
enterprise  in  general  suffered  from  the  rivalries  between 
the  various  companies,  and  above  all  from  lack  of 
imperial  support. 

Rezanov,  his  plans  made,  brought  to  bear  all  the 
considerable  influence  he  was  able  to  command,  called 
upon  all  his  resources  of  brain  and  address,  and  brought 
Catherine  to  the  point  of  consenting  to  sign  the  charter 


REZANOV  29 

he  needed.  Before  it  was  ready  for  the  imperial  signa 
ture  she  died.  Rezanov  was  forced  to  begin  again  with 
her  ill-balanced  and  intractable  son.  Natalie  Shelikov, 
his  famous  mother-in-law,  the  old  shareholders  of  the 
Company,  and  the  many  new  ones  that  had  subscribed 
to  Rezanov 's  ambitious  project,  gave  themselves  up  to 
despair.  For  a  time  the  outlook  was  dark.  The  personal 
enemies  of  Rezanov  and  the  bitter  and  persistent  op 
ponents  of  the  companies  threw  themselves  eagerly  into 
the  scale  with  tales  of  the  brutality  of  the  merchants 
and  the  threatened  extirpation  of  the  fur-bearing  ani 
mals.  Paul  announced  his  intention  to  abolish  all  the 
companies  and  close  the  colonies  to  traders  big  and 
little. 

But  the  enemy  had  a  very  subtle  antagonist  in 
Rezanov.  Apparently  dismissing  the  subject,  he  applied 
himself  to  gaining  a  personal  ascendancy  over  the  erratic 
but  impressionable  Tsar.  No  one  in  the  opposing  camp 
could  compare  with  him  in  that  fine  balance  of  charm 
and  brain  which  was  his  peculiar  gift,  or  in  the  adroit 
manipulation  of  a  mind  propelled  mainly  by  vanity. 
He  studied  Paul's  moods  and  character,  discovered  that 
after  some  senseless  act  of  oppression  he  suffered  from 
a  corresponding  remorse,  and  was  susceptible  to  any 
plan  that  would  increase  his  power  and  add  lustre 
to  his  name.  The  commercial  and  historic  advantages 
of  prosperous  northeastern  possessions  were  artfully 
instilled.  At  the  opportune  moment  Rezanov  laid  before 
him  a  scheme,  mature  in  every  detail,  for  a  great  com 
pany  that  would  add  to  the  wealth  of  Russia,  and  con 
vince  Europe  of  the  sound  commercial  sense  and  immor 
tal  wisdom  of  its  sovereign.  Without  more  ado  he 
obtained  his  charter. 

This  momentous  instrument  granted  to  the  "Russian- 
American  Company  under  our  Highest  Protection," 
"full  privileges,  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  on  the 
coast  of  northwestern  America,  beginning  from  latitude 
55  degrees  north,  and  including  the  chain  of  islands  ex 
tending  from  Kamchatka  northward,  and  southward  to 


30  REZANOV 

Japan;  the  exclusive  right  to  all  enterprises,  whether 
hunting,  trading,  or  building,  and  to  new  discoveries; 
with  strict  prohibition  from  profiting  from  any  of  these 
pursuits,  not  only  to  all  parties  who  might  engage  in 
them  on  their  own  responsibility,  but  also  to  those  who 
formerly  had  ships  and  establishments  there,  except 
those  who  have  united  with  the  new  Company."  All 
private  traders  who  refused  to  join  the  Company  were 
to  be  allowed  to  sell  their  property  and  depart  in  peace. 

Thus  was  formed  the  first  Trust  Company  of  America ; 
and  the  United  States  never  has  had  so  formidable  a 
menace  to  her  territorial  greatness  as  this  Russian 
nobleman  who  paced  that  night  the  wretched  deck  of  the 
little  ship  he  had  bought  from  one  of  her  skippers. 
Perturbed  in  mind  at  his  recent  failures  and  immediate 
prospects,  he  was  no  less  determined  to  take  California 
from  the  Spaniards  either  by  absorption  or  force. 

On  his  way  from  New  Archangel  to  San  Francisco 
he  had  met  with  his  second  failure  since  leaving  St. 
Petersburg.  It  was  his  intention  to  move  the  Sitkan 
colony  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  not 
only  pressed  by  the  need  of  a  more  beneficent  soil, 
but  as  a  first  insidious  advance  upon  San  Francisco 
Bay.  Upon  this  trip  it  would  be  enough  to  make  a 
survey  of  the  ground  and  bury  a  copper  plate  inscribed : 
"Possession  of  the  Russian  Empire."  The  Juno  had 
encountered  terrific  storms.  After  three  desperate 
attempts  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  river,  Rezanov  had 
been  forced  to  relinquish  the  enterprise  for  the  moment 
and  hasten  with  his  diseased  and  almost  useless  crew 
to  the  nearest  port.  It  was  true  that  the  attempt  could 
be  made  again  later,  but  Rezanov,  sanguine  of  tempera 
ment,  was  correspondingly  depressed  by  failure  and 
disposed  to  regard  it  as  an  ill-omen. 

An  ambassador  inspired  by  heaven  could  have  accom 
plished  no  more  with  the  Japanese  at  that  mediaeval 
stage  of  their  development  than  he  had  done,  and  the 
most  indomitable  of  men  cannot  yet  control  the  winds 
of  heaven ;  but  sovereigns  are  rarely  governed  by  logic, 


REZANOV  31 

and  frequently  by  the  favorite  at  hand.  The  privilege 
of  writing  personally  to  the  Tsar,  in  his  case,  meant 
more  and  less  than  appeared  on  the  surface.  It  was  a 
measure  to  keep  the  reports  of  the  Company  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Admiralty  College,  its  bitterest  enemy, 
and  always  jealous  of  the  Civil  Service.  Nevertheless, 
Rezanov  knew  that  he  had  no  immediate  reason  to 
apprehend  the  loss  of  Alexander's  friendship  and 
esteem ;  and  if  he  placed  the  Company,  in  which  all  the 
imperial  family  had  bought  shares,  on  a  sounder  basis 
than  ever  before,  and  doubled  its  earnings  by  insuring 
the  health  of  its  employees,  he  would  meet,  when  in  St. 
Petersburg  again,  with  practically  no  opposition  to  his 
highest  ambitions.  These  ambitions  he  deliberately  kept 
in  a  fluid  state. for  the  present.  Whether  he  should 
aspire  to  great  authority  in  the  government,  or  choose 
to  rule  with  the  absolute  powers  of  the  Tsar  himself 
these  already  vast  possessions  on  the  Pacific — to  be  ex 
tended  indefinitely — would  be  decided  by  events.  All 
his  inherited  and  cultivated  instincts  yearned  for  the 
brilliant  and  complex  civilizations  of  Europe,  but  the 
new  world  had  taken  a  firm  hold  upon  his  humaner  and 
appealed  more  insidiously  to  his  despotic.  Moreover, 
Europe,  torn  up  by  that  human  earthquake,  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  must  lose  the  greater  half  of  its  sweetness 
and  savor.  All  that,  however,  could  be  determined  upon 
his  return  to  St.  Petersburg  in  the  autumn. 

But  meanwhile  he  must  succeed  with  these  Califor- 
nians,  or  they  might  prove,  toy  soldiers  as  they  were, 
more  perilous  to  his  fortunes  than  enemies  at  court. 
He  could  not  afford  another  failure;  and  news  of  this 
attempt  and  an  exposition  of  all  that  depended  upon 
it  were  already  on  the  road  to  the  capital  of  Russia. 

He  had  known,  of  course,  of  the  law  that  forbade  the 
Spanish  colonies  to  trade  with  foreign  ships,  but  he  had 
relied  partly  upon  the  use  he  could  make  of  the  orders 
given  by  the  Spanish  King  at  the  request  of  the  Tsar 
regarding  the  expedition  under  Krusenstern,  partly 
upon  his  own  wit  and  address.  But  although  the  royal 


32  REZANOV 

order  had  insured  him  immediate  hospitality  and  saved 
him  many  wearisome  formalities,  he  had  already  dis 
covered  that  the  Spanish  on  the  far  rim  of  their  empire 
had  lost  nothing  of  their  connate  suspicion.  Rather, 
their  isolation  made  them  the  more  wary.  Although 
they  little  appreciated  the  richness  and  variousness  of 
California's  soil,  and  not  at  all  this  wonderful  bay  that 
could  accommodate  the  combined  navies  of  the  world, 
pocketing  several,  the  pious  zeal  of  the  clergy  in  behalf 
of  the  Indians,  and  the  general  policy  of  Spain  to  hold 
all  of  the  western  hemisphere  that  disintegrating  forces 
would  permit,  made  her  as  tenacious  of  this  vast  terri 
tory  she  had  so  sparsely  populated  as  had  she  been 
aware  that  its  foundations  were  of  gold,  conceived  that 
its  climate  and  soil  were  a  more  enduring  source  of 
wealth  than  ever  she  would  command  again.  If  Rezanov 
was  not  gifted  with  the  prospector's  sense  for  ores — al 
though  he  had  taken  note  of  Argiiello's  casual  reference 
to  a  vein  of  silver  and  lead  in  the  Monterey  hills — no 
man  ever  more  thoroughly  appreciated  the  visible  re 
sources  of  California  than  he.  Baranhov,  chief-manager 
of  the  Company,  had  talked  with  American  and  British 
skippers  for  twenty  years,  and  every  item  he  had  accu 
mulated  Rezanov  had  extracted.  To-day  he  had  drawn 
further  information  from  Concha  and  her  brothers; 
and  their  artless  descriptions  as  well  as  this  incompara 
ble  bay  had  filled  him  with  enthusiasm.  What  a  gift 
to  Russia !  What  an  achievement  to  his  immortal  credit ! 
The  fog  had  rolled  in  from  the  Pacific  in  great  white 
waves  and  stealthily  enfolded  him,  obliterated  the  sea 
and  the  land.  But  he  did  not  see  it.  Apprehension  left 
him.  Once  more  he  fell  to  dreaming.  In  the  course  of 
a  few  years  the  Company  would  attract  a  large  popula 
tion  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  be  strong 
enough  to  make  use  of  any  favorable  turn  in  European 
politics  and  sweep  down  upon  California.  The  geo 
graphical  position  of  Mexico,  the  arid  and  desolate, 
herbless  and  waterless  wastes  intervening,  would  pro 
hibit  her  sending  any  considerable  assistance  overland; 


REZANOV  33 

and,  all  powerful  at  court  by  that  time,  he  would  take 
care  that  the  Russian  navy  inspired  Spain  with  a  distaste 
for  remote  Pacific  waters.  He  had  long  since  recovered 
from  the  disappointment  induced  by  the  orders  com 
pelling  him  to  remain  in  the  colonies.  The  great  Com 
pany  he  had  heretofore  regarded  merely  as  a  source  of 
income  and  a  means  of  advancing  his  ambitions,  he  now 
loved  as  his  child.  Even  during  the  marches  over  frozen 
swamps  and  mountains,  during  the  terrible  winter  in 
Sitka  when  he  had  become  familiar  with  illness  and  even 
with  hunger,  his  ardor  had  grown,  as  well  as  his  deter 
mination  to  force  Russia  into  the  front  rank  of  commer 
cial  Europe.  The  United  States  he  barely  considered. 
He  respected  the  new  country  for  the  independent 
spirit  and  military  genius  that  had  routed  so  powerful 
a  nation  as  Great  Britain,  but  he  thought  of  her  only 
as  a  new  and  tentative  civilization  on  the  far  shores 
of  the  Atlantic.  After  some  experience  of  travel  in 
Siberia,  and  knowing  the  immensity  and  primeval  con 
ditions  of  northwestern  America,  he  did  not  think  it 
probable  that  the  little  cluster  of  states,  barely  able  to 
walk  alone,  would  indulge  in  dreams  of  expansion  for 
many  years  to  come.  He  had  heard  of  the  projected 
expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  but — perhaps  he  was  too  Russian — he  did 
not  take  any  adventure  seriously  that  had  not  a  mighty 
nation  at  its  back.  And  as  it  was  almost  the  half  of  a 
century  from  that  night  before  the  American  flag  flew 
over  the  Custom  House  of  Monterey,  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  Russian  aggression  under  the  leadership  of 
so  energetic  and  resourceful  a  spirit  as  Nicola'i  Petrovich 
de  Rezanov  was  in  a  fair  way  to  make  history  first  in 
the  New  Albion  of  Drake  and  the  California  of  the 
incompetent  Spaniard. 


THE  Russians  were  to  call  at  the  house  of  the  Com- 
mandante  on  their  way  to  the  Mission,  and  Concha  her 
self  made  the  chocolate  with  which  they  were  to  be 
detained  for  an  hour.  It  was  another  sparkling  morn 
ing,  one  of  the  few  that  came  between  whiter  and 
summer,  summer  and  winter,  and  made  even  this  bleak 
peninsula  a  land  of  enchantment  before  the  cold  winds 
took  the  sand  hills  up  by  their  foundations  and  drove 
them  down  to  Yerba  Buena,  submerging  the  battery  and 
every  green  thing  by  the  way ;  or  the  great  fogs  rolled 
down  from  the  tule  lands  of  the  north  and  in  from  the 
sea,  making  the  shivering  San  Franciscan  forget  that 
not  ten  miles  away  the  sun  was  as  prodigal  as  youth. 
For  a  few  weeks  San  Francisco  had  her  springtime, 
when  the  days  were  warm  and  the  air  of  a  wonderful 
lightness  and  brightness,  the  atmosphere  so  clear  that 
the  flowers  might  be  seen  on  the  islands,  when  man 
walked  with  wings  on  his  feet  and  a  song  in  his  heart ; 
when  the  past  was  done  with,  the  future  mattered  not, 
the  present  with  its  ever  changing  hues  on  bay  and 
hill,  its  cool  electrical  breezes  stirring  imagination  and 
pulse,  was  all  in  all. 

And  it  was  in  San  Francisco's  springtime  that  Concha 
Argiiello  made  chocolate  for  the  Russian  to  whom  she 
was  to  give  a  niche  in  the  history  of  her  land;  and 
sang  at  her  task.  She  whirled  the  molinillo  in  each 
cup  as  it  was  filled,  whipping  the  fragrant  liquid  to 
froth ;  pausing  only  to  scold  when  her  servant  stained 
one  of  the  dainty  saucers  or  cups.  Poor  Rosa  did  not 
sing,  although  the  spring  attuned  her  broken  spirit  to 
a  gentler  melancholy  than  when  the  winds  howled  and 
the  fog  was  cold  in  her  marrow.  She  had  been  sen- 

34 


REZANOV  35 

tenced  by  the  last  Governor,  the  wise  Borica,  to  eight 
years  of  domestic  servitude  in  the  house  of  Don  Jose 
Argiiello  for  abetting  her  lover  in  the  murder  of  his 
wife.  Concha,  thoughtless  in  many  things,  did  what  she 
could  to  exorcise  the  terror  and  despair  that  stared  from 
the  eyes  of  the  Indian,  and  puzzled  her  deeply.  Rosa 
adored  her  young  mistress  and  exulted  even  when 
Concha's  voice  rose  in  wrath;  for  was  not  she  noticed 
by  the  loveliest  senorita  in  all  the  Californias,  while 
others,  envious  and  spiteful  to  a  poor  girl  no  worse 
than  themselves,  were  ignored? 

Concha's  cheeks  were  as  pink  as  the  Castilian  roses 
that  grew  even  before  the  kitchen  door  and  were  quiver 
ing  at  the  moment  under  the  impassioned  carolling  of  a 
choir  of  larks.  Her  black  eyes  were  full  of  dancing 
lights,  like  the  imprisoned  sun-flecks  under  the  rose 
bush,  and  never  had  indolent  Spanish  hands  moved  so 
quickly. 

' '  Mira !  Mira ! ' '  she  cried  to  the  luckless  Rosa.  ' '  That 
is  the  third  time  thou  hast  spilt  the  chocolate.  Thy 
hands  are  of  wood  when  they  should  be  of  air.  A  soft 
bit  of  linen  to  clean  them,  not  that  coarse  rag.  Dios 
de  mi  alma!  I  shall  send  for  Malia." 

"For  the  love  of  Mary,  senorita,  have  pity!"  wailed 
Rosa.  "There — see — thanks  to  the  Virgin  I  have 
poured  three  cups  without  spilling  a  drop.  And  this 
rag  is  of  soft  linen.  Look,  Dona  Concha,  is  it  not  true  ? ' ' 

"Bueno;  take  care  thou  leavest  not  one  drop  on  a 
saucer  and  I  will  forgive  thee — do  not  kiss  my  hand 
now,  foolish  one!  How  can  I  whirl  the  molinillo?  Be 
always  good  and  I  will  burn  a  candle  for  thee  every 
time  I  go  to  the  Mission.  The  Russians  go  to  the  Mission 
this  morning.  Hast  thou  seen  the  Russians,  Rosa?" 

"I  have  seen  them,  senorita.  Did  I  not  serve  at 
table  yesterday?" 

"True;  I  had  forgotten.  What  didst  thou  think  of 
them?" 

"What  matters  it  to  such  great  folk  what  a  poor 
Indian  girl  thinks  of  them?  They  are  very  fair,  which 


36  REZANOV 

may  be  the  fashion  in  their  country;  but  I  am  not 
accustomed  to  it;  and  I  like  not  beards." 

"His  excellency  wore  no  beard — he  who  sat  on  my 
mother's  right  and  opposite  to  me." 

"He  is  very  grand,  senorita;  more  grand  than  the 
Governor,  who  after  all  has  red  hair  and  is  old.  He  is 
even  grander  than  Don  Jose,  whom  may  the  saints 
preserve;  or  than  the  padres  at  the  Mission.  Perhaps 
he  is  a  king,  like  our  King  and  natural  lord  in  Spain. 
(El  rey  nuestro  y  senor  natural.)  Is  he  a  king, 
senorita?" 

"No,  but  he  should  be.  Rosa,  thou  mayst  have  my 
red  cloak  that  came  from  Mexico — last  year.  I  have  a 
new  one  and  that  is  too  small.  I  had  intended  to  give 
it  to  Ana  Paula,  but  thou  art  a  good  girl  and  should 
have  a  gay  mantle  for  Sunday,  like  the  other  girls. 
I  have  also  a  red  ribbon  for  thy  hair " 

Rosa  spilt  half  the  contents  of  the  chocolate  pot  on 
the  floor  and  Concha  gave  her  a  sound  box  on  the  ear. 
However,  she  did  not  dismiss  her,  a  sentence  for  which 
the  trembling  girl  prepared  herself. 

"Make  more — quickly!"  cried  the  lady  of  caprice. 
"They  come.  I  hear  them.  But  this  is  enough  for 
the  first.  Make  the  rest  and  beat  with  the  molinillo  as 
I  have  done,  and  Malia  will  bring  all  to  the  corridor." 

She  ran  to  her  room  and  her  mirror.  Both  were 
small,  the  room  little  more  luxurious  than  the  cell  of 
a  nun.  But  the  roses  hung  over  the  window,  the  birds 
had  built  in  the  eaves,  and  over  the  wall  the  sun  shone 
in.  In  one  corner  was  an  altar  and  a  crucifix.  If  the 
walls  were  rough  and  white,  they  were  as  spotless  as 
the  hands  that  shook  out  and  then  twisted  high  the  fine 
dusky  masses  of  hair.  When  a  fold  had  been  drawn 
down  over  either  ear,  in  the  modest  fashion  of  the 
California  maid  and  wife,  and  the  tall  shell  comb  had 
fastened  the  rest,  Concha  instead  of  finishing  the  head 
dress  with  her  long  Spanish  pins,  divested  the  stems 
of  two  half-blown  roses  of  their  thorns  and  thrust  them 
obliquely  through  the  knot.  Her  dress  was  of  simple 


REZANOV  37 

white  linen  made  with  a  very  full  skirt  and  little  round 
jacket,  but  embroidered  by  her  own  deft  fingers  with 
the  color  she  loved  best.  She  patted  her  frock,  rolled 
down  her  sleeves,  and  went  out  to  the  "corridor"  to 
stand  demurely  behind  her  mother  as  the  Russians, 
escorted  by  Father  Ramon  Abella,  rode  into  the  square. 

Rezanov  had  intended  merely  to  pay  a  call  of  cere 
mony  upon  the  hospitable  Arguellos,  but  after  he  had 
dismounted  and  kissed  the  hands  of  the  smiling  senora 
and  her  beautiful  daughter  he  was  nothing  loath  to 
linger  over  a  cup  of  chocolate. 

It  was  served  out  there  in  the  shade  of  the  vines. 
Rezanov  and  Concha  sat  on  the  railing,  and  the  man 
stared  over  his  cup  at  the  girl  with  the  roses  touching 
her  cheek  and  ruffling  her  hair. 

"Do  you  like  chocolate,  seiior?"  asked  Concha,  who 
was  not  in  the  intellectual  mood  of  yesterday.  ' '  I  made 
it  myself — I  and  my  poor  Rosa. ' ' 

"It  is  the  most  delectable  foam  I  have  ever  tasted.  I 
am  interested  to  know  that  it  has  the  solid  foundation 
of  a  name.  What  is  the  matter  with  your  Rosa?" 

"She  is  an  unfortunate.  Her  lover  killed  his  wife, 
and  it  is  said  that  she  is  not  innocent  herself.  The 
lover  serves  in  chains  for  eight  years,  and  she  is  with 
us  that  we  may  make  her  repent  and  keep  her  from 
further  sin.  She  is  very  unhappy  and  will  marry  the 
man  when  his  punishment  is  over.  I  am  very  sorry 
for  her." 

"Fancy  you  living  close  to  a  woman  like  that!  I  find 
it  detestable." 

"Why? — if  I  can  do  her  good — and  make  her  happy, 
sometimes  ? ' ' 

"Does  she  ever  talk  about  her  life — before  she  came 
here?" 

"Oh,  no;  she  is  far  too  sad.  Once  only,  when  I  told 
her  I  would  pray  for  her  in  the  Mission,  she  asked  me 
to  burn  a  candle  that  her  lover  might  serve  his  sentence 
more  quickly  and  come  out  and  marry  her.  Will  you 
light  one  for  her  to-day,  senort" 


38  REZANOV 

' '  With  the  greatest  pleasure ;  if  you  really  want  your 
maid  to  marry  a  man  who  no  doubt  will  murder  her  for 
the  sake  of  some  other  woman." 

"Oh,  surely  not!  He  loves  her.  I  know  that  many 
men  love  more  than  once,  but  when  they  are  punished 
like  that,  they  must  remember." 

"Is  it  true  that  you  are  only  sixteen?  Is  that  an 
impertinent  question?  I  cannot  help  it.  Those  years 
are  so  few,  and  so  much  wisdom  has  gone  into  that 
little  head." 

' '  Sixteen  is  quite  old. ' '  Concha  drew  herself  up  with 
an  air  of  offended  dignity.  "Elena  Castro,  who  lives 
on  the  other  side,  is  but  eighteen  and  she  has  three 
little  ones.  The  Virgin  brought  them  in  the  night  and 
left  them  in  the  big  rosebush  you  see  before  the  door — 
one  at  a  time,  of  course.  Only  the  old  nurse  knew ;  the 
Virgin  whispered  it  while  she  was  saying  a  prayer  for 
Elena;  and  early  in  the  morning  she  came  and  found 
the  dear  little  baby  and  put  it  in  Elena's  arms.  I  am 
the  godmother  of  the  first — Conchitita.  In  Santa  Bar 
bara,  where  we  lived  for  some  years,  Anita  Amanda 
Carillo,  the  friend  of  Ana  Paula,  is  married,  although 
she  is  but  twelve  and  sits  on  the  floor  all  day  and  plays 
with  her  dolls.  She  prays  every  night  to  the  Virgin 
to  bring  her  a  real  baby,  but  she  is  not  old  enough 
to  take  care  of  it  and  must  wait.  Twelve  is  too  young 
to  marry."  Concha  shook  her  head.  Her  eyes  were 
wise,  and  Rezanov  noted  anew  that  her  mouth  alone 
was  as  young  as  her  years.  ' '  My  father  would  not  per 
mit  such  a  thing.  I  am  glad  he  is  not  anxious  we 
should  marry  soon.  I  should  love  to  have  the  babies, 
though;  they  are  so  sweet  to  play  with  and  make  little 
dresses  for.  But  my  mother  says  the  Virgin  does  not 
bring  the  little  ones  to  good  girls — poor  Rosa  had  one 
but  it  died — until  their  parents  find  them  a  husband 

first.  I  have  never  wanted  a  husband "  Concha 

darted  a  swift  glance  over  her  shoulder,  but  Santiago 
was  in  the  clutches  of  the  learned  doctor  and  wishing 


REZANOV  39 

that  he  knew  no  Latin;  "so  I  go  every  day  and  play 
with  Elena's  babies,  which  is  well  enough." 

Rezanov  listened  to  this  innocent  revelation  with  the 
utmost  gravity,  but  for  the  first  time  in  many  years 
he  was  conscious  of  a  novel  fascination  in  a  sex  to 
which  he  had  paid  no  niggard's  tribute.  In  his  world 
the  married  woman  reigned;  it  was  doubtful  if  he  had 
ever  had  ten  minutes'  conversation  with  a  young  girl 
before,  never  with  one  whose  face  and  form  were  as 
arresting  as  her  crystal  purity.  He  was  fascinated, 
but  more  than  ever  on  his  guard.  As  he  rode  over 
the  sand  hills  to  the  Mission  she  clung  fast  to  his 
thoughts  and  he  speculated  upon  the  woman  hidden 
away  in  the  depths  of  that  lovely  shell  like  the  deep 
co\or  within  the  .tight  Castilian  buds  that  opened  so 
slowly.  He  recalled  the  personalities  of  the  young  officers 
that  surrounded  her.  They  were  charming  fellows, 
gay,  kindly,  honest ;  but  he  felt  sure  that  not  one  of  them 
was  fit  to  hold  the  cup  of  life  to  the  exquisite  young 
lips  of  Concha  Argiiello.  The  very  thought  disposed 
him  to  twist  their  necks. 


VI 

THE  Mission  San  Francisco  de  Assisi  stood  at  the  head 
of  a  great  valley  about  a  league  from  the  Presidio  and 
facing  the  eastern  hills.  Behind  it,  yet  not  too  close, 
for  the  priests  were  ever  on  their  guard  against  Indians 
more  lustful  of  loot  than  salvation,  was  a  long  irregular 
chain  of  hills,  breaking  into  twin  peaks  on  its  highest 
ridge,  with  a  lone  mountain  outstanding.  It  was  an 
imposing  but  forbidding  mass,  as  steep  and  bare  as 
the  walls  of  a  fortress;  but  in  the  distance,  north  and 
south,  as  the  range  curved  in  a  tapering  arc  that  gave 
the  valley  the  appearance  of  a  colossal  stadium,  the 
outlines  were  soft  in  a  haze  of  pale  color.  The  sheltered 
valley  between  the  western  heights  and  the  sand  hills 
far  down  by  the  bay  where  it  turned  to  the  south,  was 
green  with  wheat  fields,  and  a  small  herd  of  cattle 
grazed  on  the  lower  slopes.  The  beauty  of  this  superbly 
proportioned  valley  was  further  enhanced  by  groves 
of  oaks  and  bay  trees,  and  by  a  lagoon,  communicating 
with  an  arm  of  the  bay,  which  the  priests  had  named  for 
their  Lady  of  Sorrows — Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Dolores. 
The  little  sheet  of  water  was  almost  round,  very  green 
and  set  in  a  thicket  of  willows  that  were  green,  too,  in 
the  springtime,  and  golden  in  summer.  Near  its  banks, 
or  closer  to  the  protecting  Mission — on  whose  land  grant 
they  were  built — were  the  comfortable  adobe  homes  of 
the  few  Spanish  pioneers  that  preferred  the  bracing 
north  to  the  monotonous  warmth  of  the  south.  Some 
of  these  houses  were  long  and  rambling,  others  built 
about  a  court;  all  were  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  en 
closing  a  garden  where  the  Castilian  roses  grew  even 
more  luxuriantly  than  at  the  Presidio.  The  walls,  like 
the  houses,  were  white,  and  on  those  of  Don  Juan 

40 


REZANOV  41 

Moraga,  a  cousin  of  Dona  Ignacia  Argiiello,  the  roses 
had  been  trained  to  form  a  border  along  the  top  in  a 
fashion  that  reminded  Rezanov  of  the  pink-edged  walls 
of  Fiesole. 

The  white  red-tiled  church  and  the  long  line  of  rooms 
adjoining  were  built  of  adobe  with  no  effort  at  grandeur, 
but  with  a  certain  noble  simplicity  of  outline  that  har 
monized  not  only  with  the  lofty  reserve  of  the  hills  but 
with  the  innocent  hope  of  creating  a  soul  in  the  lowest 
of  human  bipeds.  The  Indians  of  San  Francisco  were 
as  immedicable  as  they  were  hideous;  but  the  fathers 
belabored  them  with  sticks  and  heaven  with  prayer, 
and  had  so  far  succeeded  that  if  as  yet  they  had  sown 
piety  no  higher  than  the  knees  they  had  trained  some 
twelve  hundred  p'airs  of  hands  to  useful  service. 

On  the  right  was  a  graveyard,  with  little  in  it  as 
yet  but  rose  trees;  behind  the  church  and  the  many 
spacious  rooms  built  for  the  consolation,  of  virtue  in  the 
wilderness  was  a  large  building  surrounding  a  court. 
Girls  and  young  widows  occupied  the  cells  on  the  north 
side,  and  the  work  rooms  on  the  east,  while  the  youths, 
under  the  sharp  eye  of  a  lay  brother,  were  opposite. 
All  lived  a  life  -of  unwilling  industry:  cleaning  and 
combing  wool,  spinning,  weaving,  manufacturing  choco 
late,  grinding  corn  between  stones,  making  shoes,  fash 
ioning  the  simple  garments  worn  by  priest  and  Indian. 
Between  the  main  group  of  buildings  and  the  natural 
rampart  of  the  "San  Bruno  Mountains"  was  the 
Rancheria,  where  the  Indian  families  lived  in  eight  long 
rows  of  isolated  huts. 

In  spite  of  vigilance  an  Indian  escaped  now  and  again 
to  the  mountains,  where  he  could  lie  naked  in  the  sun 
and  curse  the  fetich  of  civilization.  As  the  Russians 
approached,  a  friar,  with  deer-skin  armor  over  his 
cassock,  was  tugging  at  a  recalcitrant  mule,  while  a 
body-guard  of  four  Indians  stood  ready  to  attend  him 
down  the  coast  in  search  of  an  enviable  brother.  The 
mule,  as  if  in  sympathy  with  the  fugitive,  had  planted 
his  four  feet  in  the  earth  and  lifted  his  voice  in  derision, 


42  REZANOV 

while  the  young  friar,  a  recruit  at  the  Mission,  and 
far  from  enamored  of  his  task,  strained  at  the  rope, 
and  an  Indian  pelted  the  hindquarters  with  stones. 
Suddenly,  the  mule  flung  out  his  heels,  the  enemy  in  the 
rear  sprawled,  the  rope  flew  loose,  the  beast  with  a 
loud  bray  fled  toward  the  willows  of  Dolores.  But  the 
young  priest  was  both  agile  and  angry.  With  a  flying 
leap  he  reached  the  heaving  back.  The  mule  acknowl 
edged  himself  conquered.  The  body-guard  trotted  on 
their  own  feet,  and  the  party  disappeared  round  a  bend 
of  the  hills. 

Rezanov  laughed  heartily  and  even  the  glum  visage 
of  Father  Abella  relaxed. 

"It  is  a  common  sight,  Excellency,"  he  said.  "We 
are  thankful  to  have  a  younger  friar  for  such  fatiguing 
work.  Many  a  time  have  I  belabored  stubborn  mules 
and  bestrode  bucking  mustangs  while  searching  for  one 
of  these  ungrateful  but  no  doubt  chosen  creatures.  It 
is  the  will  of  God,  and  we  make  no  complaint;  but  we 
are  very  willing,  Father  Landaeta  and  I,  that  youth 
should  cool  its  ardor  in  so  certain  a  fashion  while  we 
attend  to  the  more  reasonable  duties  at  home." 

They  dismounted  at  the  door  of  the  church.  The 
horses  were  led  off  by  waiting  Indians.  The  soldiers 
on  guard  saluted  and  stepped  aside,  and  the  party 
entered.  Two  priests  in  handsome  vestments  stood  be 
fore  the  altar,  but  the  long  dim  nave  was  empty.  The 
Russians  had  been  told  that  a  mass  would  be  said  in 
their  honor,  and  they  marched  down  the  church  and 
bent  their  knees  with  as  much  ceremony  as  had  they 
been  of  the  faith  of  their  hosts.  When  the  short  mass 
was  over,  Rezanov  bethought  himself  of  Concha's  re 
quest,  and  whispering  its  purport  to  Father  Abella  was 
led  to  a  double  iron  hoop  stuck  with  tallow  dips  in 
various  stages  of  petition.  Rezanov  lit  a  candle  and 
fastened  it  in  an  empty  socket.  Then  with  a  whim 
sical  twist  of  his  mouth  he  lit  and  adjusted  another. 

"No  doubt  she  has  some  fervent  wish,  like  all  chil 
dren,"  he  thought  apologetically.  "And  whether  this 


REZANOV  43 

will  help  her  to  realize  it  or  not,  at  least  it  will  be  inter 
esting  to  watch  her  eyes — and  mouth — when  I  tell  her. 
Will  she  melt,  or  flash,  or  receive  my  offering  at  her 
shrine  as  a  matter  of  course  ?  I  '11  surprise  her  to-night 
in  the  middle  of  a  dance. ' ' 

He  deposited  a  gold  piece  among  the  candles  on  the 
table  and  followed  Father  Abella  through  a  side  door. 
A  corridor  ran  behind  the  long  line  of  rooms  designed 
not  onjy  for  priests  but  for  the  travellers  always  sure 
of  a  welcome  at  these  hospitable  Missions.  Father 
Abella  shuffled  ahead,  halted  on  the  threshold  of  a  large 
room,  and  ceremoniously  invited  his  guests  to  enter.  Two 
other  priests  stood  before  a  table  set  with  wine  and 
delicate  confections,  their  hands  concealed  in  their  wide 
brown  sleeves,  but  their  unmatched  physiognomies — the 
one  lean  and  jovial,  the  other  plump  and  resigned — 
alight  with  the  same  smile  of  welcome.  Father  Abella 
mentioned  them  as  his  coadjutor  Father  Martin 
Landaeta,  and  their  guest  Father  Jose  Uria  of  San 
Jose ;  and  then  the  three,  with  the  scant  rites  of  genuine 
hospitality,  applied  themselves  to  the  tickling  of  palates 
long  unused  to  ambrosial  living.  Responding  ingenu 
ously  to  the  glow  of  their  home-made  wines,  they  begged 
Rezanov  to  accept  the  Mission,  burn  it,  plunder  it,  above 
all,  to  plan  his  own  day. 

"I  hope  that  I  am  to  see  every  detail  of  your  great 
work,"  replied  the  diplomatic  guest  of  honor.  "But 
at  your  own  leisure.  Meanwhile,  I  beg  that  you  will 
order  one  of  your  Indians  to  bring  in  the  little  presents 
I  venture  to  offer  as  a  token  of  my  respect.  You  may 
have  heard  that  the  presents  of  his  Imperial  Majesty 
were  refused  by  the  Mikado  of  Japan.  I  reserved  many 
of  them  for  possible  use  in  our  own  possessions,  par 
ticularly  a  piece  of  cloth  of  gold.  This  I  had  intended 
for  our  church  at  New  Archangel,  but  finding  the  priests 
there  more  in  need  of  punishment  than  reward,  I  con 
cluded  to  bring  it  here  and  offer  it  as  a  manifest  of 
my  admiration  for  what  the  great  Franciscan  Order 
of  the  Most  Holy  Church  of  Rome  has  accomplished 


44  REZANOV 

in  the  Calif ornias.     Have  I  been  too  presumptuous?" 

The  priests  all  wore  the  eager  expressions  of  children. 

"Could  we  not  see  them  first?"  asked  Father 
Landaeta  of  his  superior;  and  Father  Abella  sent  a 
servant  with  an  order  to  unload  the  horse  and  bring  in 
the  presents. 

Not  a  vestige  of  reserve  lingered.  Priests  and  guests 
sat  about  the  table  eating  and  drinking  and  chatting 
as  were  they  old  friends  reunited,  and  Rezanov  extracted 
much  of  the  information  he  desired.  The  white  pop 
ulation — "gente  de  razon" — of  Alta  California,  the 
peculiar  province  of  the  Franciscans — the  Jesuits 
having  been  the  first  to  invade  Baja  California,  and 
with  little  success — numbered  about  two  thousand,  the 
Christianized  Indians  twenty  thousand.  There  were 
nineteen  Missions  and  four  Presidial  districts — San 
Diego,  close  to  the  border  of  Baja  California,  Santa 
Barbara,  Monterey,  and  San  Francisco.  Each  Mission 
had  an  immense  grant  of  land,  or  rancho — generally 
fifteen  miles  square — for  the  raising  of  live  stock,  agri 
cultural  necessities,  and  the  grape.  At  the  Presidio  of 
San  Francisco  there  were  some  seventy  men,  including 
invalids ;  and  the  number  varied  little  at  the  other  mili 
tary  centres,  Rezanov  inferred,  although  there  was  a 
natural  effort  to  impress  the  foreigner  with  the  casual 
inferiority  of  the  armed  force  within  his  ken.  Cattle 
and  horses  increased  so  rapidly  that  every  few  years 
there  was  a  wholesale  slaughter,  although  the  agricul 
tural  yield  was  enormous.  "What  the  Missions  were 
unable  to  manufacture  was  sent  them  from  Mexico,  and 
disposed  of  the  small  salaries  of  the  priests ;  the  ' '  Pious 
Fund  of  California"  in  the  City  of  Mexico  being  sys 
tematically  embezzled.  The  first  Presidio  and  Mission 
were  founded  at  San  Diego  in  July  of  1769 ;  the  last  at 
San  Francisco  in  September  and  October  of  1776. 

Rezanov 's  polite  interest  in  the  virgin  country  was 
cut  short  by  the  entrance  of  two  Indians  carrying  heavy 
bundles,  which  they  opened  upon  the  floor  without 
further  delay. 


REZANOV  45 

The  cloth  of  gold  was  magnificent,  and  the  padres 
handled  it  as  rapturously  as  had  their  souls  and  fingers 
been  of  the  sex  symbolized  while  exalted  by  the  essence 
of  maternity  in  whose  service  it  would  be  anointed. 
Rezanov  looked  on  with  an  amused  sigh,  yet  conscious 
of  being  more  comprehending  and  sympathetic  than 
if  he  had  journeyed  straight  from  Europe  to  California. 
It  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  felt  a  passing  gratitude 
for  his  uncomfortable  but  illuminating  sojourn  so  close 
to  the  springs  of  nature. 

The  priests  were  as  well  pleased  with  the  pieces  of 
fine  English  cloth;  and  as  their  own  homespun  robes 
rasped  like  hair  shirts,  they  silently  but  uniformly  con 
gratulated  themselves  that  the  color  was  brown. 

Father  Abella  turned  to  Rezanov,  his  saturnine  fea 
tures  relaxed. 

"We  are  deeply  grateful  to  your  excellency,  and  our 
prayers  shall  follow  you  always.  Never  have  we  re 
ceived  presents  so  timely  and  so  magnificent.  And  be 
sure  we  shall  not  forget  the  brave  officers  that  have 
brought  you  safely  to  our  distant  shores,  nor  the  dis 
tinguished  scholar  who  guards  your  excellency 's  health. ' ' 
He  turned  to  Langsdorff  and  repeated  himself  in  Latin. 
The  naturalist,  whose  sharp  nose  was  always  lifted 
as  if  in  protest  against  oversight  and  ready  to  pounce 
upon  and  penetrate  the  least  of  mysteries,  bowed  with 
his  hand  on  his  heart,  and  translated  for  the  benefit  of 
the  officers. 

"Humph!"  said  David ov  in  Russian.  "Much  the 
Chamberlain  will  care  for  the  prayers  of  the  Catholic 
Church  if  he  has  to  go  home  with  his  cargo.  But  he  has 
a  fine  opportunity  here  for  the  display  of  his  diplomatic 
talents.  I  fancy  they  will  avail  him  more  than  they  did 
at  Nagasaki — where  I  am  told  he  swore  more  than  once 
when  he  should  have  kowtowed  and  grinned." 

"I  shouldn't  like  to  see  him  grin,"  replied  Khostov, 
as  they  finally  started  for  the  outbuildings.  "If  he 
could  go  as  far  as  that  he  would  be  the  most  terrible 
man  living.  Were  it  not  for  the  fire  in  him  that  melts 


46  REZANOV 

the  iron  just  so  often  he  would  be  crafty  and  cruel 
instead  of  subtle  and  firm.  He  is  a  fortunate  man! 
There  were  many  fairies  at  his  cradle!  I  have  always 
envied  him,  and  now  he  is  going  to  win  that  beautiful 
Dona  Concha.  She  will  look  at  none  of  us." 

"We  will  doubtless  meet  others  as  beautiful  at  the 
ball  to-night,"  said  Davidov  philosophically.  "You  are 
not  in  love  with  a  girl  who  has  barely  spoken  to  you, 
I  suppose." 

"She  had  almost  given  me  a  rose  this  morning,  when 
Rezanov,  who  was  flattering  the  good  Dona  Ignacia  with 
a  moment  of  his  attention,  turned  too  soon.  I  might 
have  been  air.  She  looked  straight  through  me.  Such 
eyes!  Such  teeth!  Such  a  form!  She  is  the  most 
enchanting  girl  I  have  ever  seen.  And  he  will  monopo 
lize  her  without  troubling  to  notice  whether  we  even 
admire  her  or  not.  Pray  heaven  he  does  not  break 
her  heart." 

"He  is  honorable.  One  must  admit  that,  if  he  does 
fancy  his  own  will  was  a  personal  gift  from  the  Al 
mighty.  Perhaps  she  will  break  his.  I  never  saw  a 
more  accomplished  flirt." 

"I  know  women,"  replied  the  shrewder  Khostov. 

"When  men  like  Rezanov  make  an  effort  to  please " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Some  men  are  the  off 
spring  of  Mars  and  Venus  and  most  of  us  are  not.  We 
can  at  least  be  philosophers.  Let  us  hope  the  dinner 
will  be  excellent." 


VII 

IT  proved  to  be  the  most  delicate  and  savory  repast 
that  had  excited  their  appetites  this  side  of  Europe.  The 
friars  had  their  consolations,  and  even  Dona  Ignacia 
Argiiello  was  less  gastronomic  than  Father  Landaeta. 
Rezanov,  whose  epicurianism  had  survived  a  year  of 
dried  fish  and  the  coarse  luxuries  of  his  managers,  sud 
denly  saw  all  life  in  the  light  of  the  humorist,  and  told 
so  many  amusing  versions  of  his  adventures  in  the  wil 
derness,  and  even  of  his  misadventure  with  Japan,  that 
the  priests  choked  over  their  wine,  and  Langsdorff,  who 
had  not  a  grain  of  humor,  swelled  with  pride  in  his 
chance  relationship  to  a  man  who  seemed  able  to  manip 
ulate  every  string  in  the  human  network. 

"He  will  succeed,"  he  said  to  Davidov.  "He  will 
succeed.  I  almost  hoped  he  would  not,  he  is  so  indif 
ferent — I  might  almost  say  so  hostile — to  my  own  scien 
tific  adventures.  But  when  he  is  in  this  mood,  when 
those  cold  eyes  brim  with  laughter  and  ordinary  human 
ity,  I  am  nothing  better  than  his  slave." 

Rezanov,  in  reply  to  an  entreaty  from  Father  Uria 
to  tell  them  more  of  his  mission  and  of  the  strange 
picture-book  country  they  had  never  hoped  to  hear 
of  at  first  hand,  assumed  a  tone  of  great  frankness  and 
intimacy.  "We  were,  with  astounding  cleverness, 
treated  from  the  first  like  an  audience  in  a  new  theatre. 
After  we  had  solemnly  been  towed  by  a  string  of  boats 
to  anchor,  under  the  Papen  mountains,  all  Nagasaki 
appeared  to  turn  out,  men,  women,  and  children.  Thou 
sands  of  little  boats,  decorated  with  flags  by  day  and 
colored  lanterns  by  night,  and  filled  with  people  in  gala 
attire,  swarmed  about  us,  gazed  at  us  through  telescopes, 
were  so  thick  on  the  bay  one  could  have  traversed  it  on 

47 


t 


48  REZANOV 

foot.  The  imperial  sailors  were  distinguished  by  their 
uniforms  of  a  large  blue  and  white  check,  suggesting 
the  pinafores  of  a  brobdingnagian  baby.  The  barges 
of  the  imperial  princes  were  covered  with  blue  and 
white  awnings  and  towed  to  the  sound  of  kettledrums 
and  the  loud  measured  cries  of  the  boatmen.  At  night 
the  thousands  of  illuminated  lanterns,  of  every  color 
and  shade,  the  waving  of  fans,  the  incessant  chattering, 
and  the  more  harmonious  noise  that  rose  unceasingly 
above,  made  up  a  scene  as  brilliant  as  it  was  juvenile 
and  absurd.  In  the  daytime  it  was  more  interesting, 
with  the  background  of  hills  cultivated  to  their  crests 
in  the  form  of  terraces,  varied  with  rice  fields,  hamlets, 
groves,  and  paper  villas  encircled  with  little  gardens  as 
glowing  and  various  of  color  as  the  night  lanterns. 
When,  at  last,  I  was  graciously  permitted  to  have  a 
residence  on  a  point  of  land  called  Megasaki,  I  was 
conveyed  thither  in  the  pleasure  barge  of  the  Prince  of 
Fisi.  There  was  place  for  sixty  oarsmen,  but  as  one 
of  the  few  tokens  of  respect  I  was  enabled  to  record 
for  the  comfort  of  the  mighty  sovereign  whose  repre 
sentative  I  was,  the  barge  was  towed  by  a  long  line  of 
boats,  decorated  with  flags,  the  voices  of  the  rowers  rising 
and  falling  in  measured  cadence  as  they  announced  to 
all  Japan  the  honor  about  to  be  conferred  upon  her. 
I  sat  on  a  chair  of  state  in  the  central  compartment  of 
the  barge,  and  quite  alone;  my  suite  standing  on  a 
raised  deck  beyond.  Before  me  on  a  table,  marvellously 
inlaid,  were  my  credentials.  I  was  surrounded  by  cur 
tains  of  sky-blue  silk  and  panels  of  polished  lacquer 
inwrought  with  the  imperial  arms  in  gold.  The  awning 
of  blue  and  white  silk  was  lined  with  a  delicate  and 
beautiful  tapestry,  and  the  reverse  sides  of  the  silken 
partitions  were  of  canvas  painted  by  the  masters  of  the 
country.  The  polished  floor  was  covered  by  a  mag 
nificent  carpet  woven  with  alarming  dragons  whose 
jaws  pointed  directly  at  my  chair  of  state.  And  such 
an  escort  and  such  a  reception,  both  of  ceremony  and 
of  curiosity,  no  Russian  had  ever  boasted  before.  Flags 


REZANOV  49 

waved,  kettledrums  beat,  fans  were  flung  into  my  very 
lap  to  autograph.  The  bay,  the  hills,  were  a  blaze  of 
color  and  a  confusion  of  sound.  The  barracks  were 
hung  with  tapestries  and  gay  silks.  I,  with  my  arms 
folded  and  in  full  uniform,  my  features  composed  to 
the  impassivity  of  one  of  their  own  wooden  gods,  was 
the  central  figure  of  this  magnificent  farce ;  and  it  may 
be  placed  to  the  everlasting  credit  of  the  discipline  of 
courts  that  not  one  of  my  staff  smiled.  They  stood  with 
their  arms  folded  and  their  eyes  on  the  inlaid  devices  at 
their  feet. 

"When  this  first  act  was  over  and  I  was  locked  in 
for  the  night  and  felt  myself  able  to  kick  my  way 
through  the  flimsy  walls,  yet  as  completely  a  prisoner 
as  if  they  had  been  of  stone,  I  will  confess  that  I  fell 
into  a  most  undiplomatical  rage;  and  when  I  found 
myself  played  with  from  month  to  month  by  a  people 
I  scorned  as  a  grotesque  mixture  of  barbarian  and 
mannikin,  I  was  alternately  infuriated,  and  consumed 
with  laughter  at  the  vanity  of  men  and  nations." 

His  voice  dropped  from  its  light  ironical  note,  and 
became  harsh  and  abrupt  with  reminiscent  disgust. 
* '  And  the  end  of  it  all  was  failure.  The  superb  presents 
of  the  Tsar  were  rejected.  These  presents:  coats  of 
black  fox  and  ermine,  vases  of  fossil  ivory  and  of  marble, 
muskets,  pistols,  sabers,  magnificent  lustres,  table 
services  of  crystal  and  porcelain,  tapestries  and  car 
pets,  immense  mirrors,  a  clock  in  the  form  of  an  ele 
phant,  and  set  with  precious  stones,  a  portrait  of  the 
Tsar  by  Madame  le  Brun,  damasks,  furs,  velvets,  printed 
cotton,  cloths,  brocades  of  gold  and  silver,  microscopes, 
gold  and  silver  watches,  a  complete  electrical  machine — 
presents  in  all,  of  the  value  of  three  hundred  thousand 
roubles,  were  returned  with  scant  ceremony  to  the 
Nadeshda  and  I  was  politely  told  to  leave. 

"But  the  mortification  was  the  least  of  my  worries. 
The  object  of  the  embassy  was  to  establish  not  only 
good  will  and  friendship  between  Russia  and  Japan,  for 
which  we  cared  little,  but  commercial  intercourse  be- 


50  REZANOV 

tween  this  fertile  country  and  our  northeastern  and 
barren  possessions.  It  would  have  been  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Japanese,  and  God  knows  it  would 
have  meant  much  to  us." 

Then  Rezanov,  having  tickled  the  imaginations  and 
delighted  the  curiosity  of  the  priests,  began  to  play  upon 
their  heartstrings.  His  own  voice  vibrated  as  he  related 
the  sufferings  of  the  servants  of  the  Company,  and  while 
avoiding  the  nomenclature  and  details  of  their  bodily 
afflictions,  gave  so  thrilling  a  hint  of  their  terrible  con 
dition  that  his  audience  gasped  with  sympathy  while 
experiencing  no  qualms  in  their  own  more  fortunate 
stomachs. 

He  led  their  disarmed  understandings  as  far  down 
the  vale  of  tears  as  he  deemed  wise,  then  permitted 
himself  a  magnificent  burst  of  spontaneity. 

"I  must  tell  you  the  object  of  my  mission  to  Cali 
fornia,  my  kind  friends ! "  he  cried,  ' '  although  I  beg 
you  will  not  betray  me  to  the  other  powers  until  I  think 
it  wise  to  speak  myself.  But  I  must  have  your  sympathy 
and  advice.  It  has  long  been  my  desire  to  establish 
relations  between  Russia  and  Spain  that  should  be  of 
mutual  benefit  to  the  colonies  of  both  in  this  part  of 
the  western  hemisphere.  I  have  told  you  of  the  hor 
rible  condition  and  needs  of  my  men.  They  must  have 
a  share  in  the  superfluities  of  this  most  prodigal  land. 
But  I  make  no  appeal  to  your  mercy.  Trade  is  not 
founded  on  charity.  You  well  know  we  have  much  you 
are  in  daily  need  of.  There  should  be  a  bi-yearly 
interchange."  He  paused  and  looked  from  one  staring 
face  to  the  other.  He  had  been  wise  in  his  appeal. 
They  were  deeply  gratified  at  being  taken  into  his  con 
fidence  and  virtually  asked  to  outwit  the  military 
authorities  they  detested. 

Rezanov  continued. 

"I  have  brought  the  Juno  heavy  laden,  my  fathers, 
and  for  the  deliberate  purpose  of  barter.  She  is  full 
of  Russian  and  Boston  goods.  I  shall  do  my  utmost 
to  persuade  your  Governor  to  give  me  of  his  corn  and 


REZANOV  51 

other  farinaceous  foods  in  exchange.  It  may  be  against 
your  laws,  and  I  am  well  aware  that  for  the  treaty  I 
must  wait,  but  I  beg  you  in  the  name  of  humanity  to 
point  out  to  his  excellency  a  way  in  which  he  can  at 
the  same  time  relieve  our  necessities  and  placate  his 
conscience." 

1 '  We  will !  We  will ! ' '  cried  Father  Abella.  ' '  Would 
that  you  had  come  in  the  disguise  of  a  common  sea- 
captain,  for  we  have  hoodwinked  the  commandantes 
more  than  once.  But  aside  from  the  suspicion  and 
distrust  in  which  Spain  holds  Russia, — with  so  dis 
tinguished  a  visitor  as  your  excellency,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  traffic  undetected.  But  there  must  be  a 
way  out.  There  shall  be!  And  will  your  excellency 
kindly  let  us  se&  the  cargo?  I  am  sure  there  is  much 
we  sadly  need:  cloth,  linen,  cotton,  boots,  shoes,  casks, 
bottles,  glasses,  plates,  shears,  axes,  implements  of  hus 
bandry,  saws,  sheep-shears,  iron  wares — have  you  any 
of  these  things,  Excellency?" 

"All  and  more.    Will  you  come  to-morrow?" 

' '  We  will !  and  one  way  or  another  they  shall  be  ours 
and  you  shall  have  breadstuffs  for  your  pitiable  sub 
jects.  We  have  as  much  need  of  Europe  as  you  can 
have  of  California,  for  Mexico  is  dilatory  and  often 
disregards  our  orders  altogether.  One  way  or  another — 
we  have  your  promise,  Excellency?" 

"I  shall  not  leave  California  without  accomplishing 
what  I  came  for,"  said  Rezanov. 


VIII 

CONCHA  boxed  Rosa's  ears  twice  while  being  dressed  for 
the  ball  that  evening.  It  was  true  that  excitement  had 
reigned  throughout  the  Presidio  all  day,  for  never  had  a 
ball  been  so  hastily  planned.  Don  Luis  had  demurred 
when  Concha  proposed  it  at  breakfast ;  officially  to  enter 
tain  strangers  not  yet  officially  received  exceeded  his 
authority.  Concha,  waxing  stubborn  with  opposition, 
vowed  that  she  would  give  the  ball  herself  if  he  did  not. 
Business  immediately  afterward  took  the  Commandante 
ad.  in.  down  to  the  Battery  at  Yerba  Buena.  Before 
he  left  he  gave  orders  that  the  large  hall  in  the  barracks, 
where  balls  usually  were  held,  should  be  locked  and  the 
key  given  up  to  no  one  but  himself.  He  returned  in 
the  afternoon  to  find  that  Concha  had  outwitted  him. 
The  sala  of  the  Commandante 's  house  was  very  large. 
The  furniture  had  been  removed  and  the  walls  hung 
with  flags,  those  of  Spain  on  three  sides,  the  Russian, 
borrowed  by  Santiago  from  the  ship,  at  the  head  of  the 
room.  Concha  laughed  gaily  as  Luis  stormed  about 
the  sala  rasping  his  spurs  on  the  bare  floor. 

"Whitewashed  walls  for  guests  from  St.  Petersburg!" 
she  jeered,  as  Luis  menaced  the  flags.  "We  have  little 
enough  to  offer.  Besides — what  more  wise  than  to 
flaunt  our  flag  in  the  face  of  the  Russian  bear?  Their 
flag,  of  course,  is  a  mere  idle  compliment.  Let  me  tell 
you  two  things,  Luis  mio:  this  morning  I  invited  the 
Russians  to  dance  to-night,  and  told  Padre  Abella  to 
ask  all  our  neighbors  of  the  Mission  besides;  and  Ra- 
faella  Sal  helped  me  to  drape  every  one  of  those  flags. 
When  I  told  her  you  might  tear  them  down,  she  vowed 
that  if  you  did  she  would  dance  all  night  with  the 
Bostonian." 

52 


REZANOV  53 

Luis  lifted  his  shoulders  and  mustache  to  express  an 
attitude  of  contemptuous  resignation,  but  his  face  dark 
ened,  aad  a  moment  later  he  left  the  room  and  strolled 
up  the  square  to  the  grating  of  Rafaella  Sal. 

Concha  well  knew  that  the  frank  gray  eyes  of  the 
Bostonian — all  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  Bos- 
tonians  in  that  part  of  the  world,  for  only  Boston 
skippers  had  the  enterprise  to  venture  so  far — were  for 
no  one  but  herself.  But  his  face  was  bony  and  freckled, 
and  his  figure  less  in  height  and  vigor  than  her  own. 
He  was  rich  and  well-born,  but  shy  and  very  modest. 
Concha  Argiiello,  La  Favorita  of  California,  was  for 
some  such  dashing  caballero  as  Don  Antonio  Castro  of 
Monterey,  or  Ignacio  Sal,  the  most  adventurous  rider 
of  the  north.  Meanwhile  he  could  look  at  her  and 
adore  her  in  secret,  and  Dona  Rafaella  Sal  was  very 
kind  and  danced  as  well  as  himself.  He  never  dreamed 
that  he  was  being  used  as  a  stalking  horse  to  keep 
alive  in  the  best  match  in  the  Califdrnias  the  jealous 
desire  for  exclusive  possession  that  had  animated  him 
in  1800  when  he  had  applied  through  the  Viceroy  of 
Mexico  for  royal  consent  to  his  marriage  with  the  Fa 
vorita  of  her  year.  That  was  six  years  ago  and  never 
a  word  had  come  from  Madrid.  Luis  was  faithful, 
but  men  were  men,  and  girls  grew  older  every  day. 
So  the  wise  Rafaella  was  alternately  indifferent  and 
alluring,  the  object  of  more  admiration  than  a  maid 
could  always  repel,  yet  with  wells  of  sentiment  that 
only  one  man  could  discover.  And  the  American  was 
patient,  and  even  had  he  known,  would  not  in  the  least 
have  minded  the  use  she  made  of  him.  He  still  could 
look  at  Concha  Argiiello. 

William  Sturgis  had  sailed  in  one  of  his  father's 
ships,  now  six  years  ago,  from  Boston  in  search  of 
health.  The  ship  in  a  dense  fog  had  gone  on  the  rocks 
in  the  straits  between  the  Farallones  and  the  Bay  of 
San  Francisco.  He  alone,  and  after  long  hours  of 
struggle  with  the  wicked  currents,  not  even  knowing  in 
what  direction  land  might  be,  was  flung,  senseless,  on 


54  REZANOV 

the  shore  below  the  Fort.  For  the  next  month  he  was 
an  invalid  in  the  house  of  the  Commandante.  Fortu 
nately,  his  papers  and  money  were  sewn  in  an  oilskin 
belt  and  his  father's  name  was  well  known  in  Cali 
fornia.  Moreover,  there  never  was  a  more  likable  youth. 
His  illness  interested  all  the  matrons  and  maids  of  the 
Presidio  in  his  fate ;  when  he  recovered,  his  good  dancing 
and  unselfishness  gave  him  permanent  place  in  the 
regard  of  the  women,  while  his  entire  absence  of  beauty, 
and  his  ability  to  hold  his  own  in  the  mess  room,  estab 
lished  his  position  with  the  men. 

In  due  course  word  of  his  plight  reached  Boston, 
and  a  ship  was  immediately  despatched,  not  only  to 
bring  the  castaway  home,  but  with  the  fine  wardrobe 
necessary  to  a  young  gentleman  of  his  station.  But  the 
same  ship  brought  word  of  his  father's  death — his 
mother  had  gone  long  since — and  as  there  were  brothers 
enamored  of  the  business  he  hated,  he  decided  to  remain 
in  the  country  that  had  won  his  heart  and  given  him 
health.  For  some  time  there  was  demur  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities;  Spain  welcomed  no  foreigners  in  her 
colonies.  But  Sturgis  swore  a  mighty  oath  that  he 
would  never  despatch  a  letter  uninspected  by  the  Com 
mandante,  that  he  would  make  no  excursions  into  the 
heart  of  the  country,  that  he  would  neither  engage  in 
traffic  nor  interfere  in  politics.  Then  having  already 
won  the  affections  of  the  Governor,  he  was  permitted  to 
remain,  even  to  rent  an  acre  of  land  from  the  Church 
in  the  sheltered  Mission  valley,  and  build  himself  a 
house.  Here  he  raised  fruit  and  vegetables  for  his  own 
hospitable  table,  chickens  and  game  cocks.  Books  and 
other  luxuries  came  by  every  ship  from  Boston;  until 
for  a  long  interval  ships  came  no  more.  One  of  these 
days,  when  the  power  of  the  priests  had  abated,  and  the 
jealousy  which  would  keep  all  Californians  landless  but 
themselves  was  counterbalanced  by  a  great  increase  in 
population,  he  meant  to  have  a  ranch  down  in  the  south 
where  the  sun  shone  all  the  year  round  and  he  could 
ride  half  the  day  with  his  vaqueros  after  the  finest 


REZANOV  55 

cattle  in  the  country.  He  never  should  marry  because 
he  could  not  marry  Concha  Argiiello,  hut  he  could 
think  of  her,  see  her  sometimes ;  and  in  a  land  where  a 
man  was  neither  frozen  in  winter  nor  grilled  in  summer, 
where  life  could  be  led  in  the  open,  and  the  tendency 
was  to  idle  and  dream,  domestic  happiness  called  on  a 
feebler  note  than  in  less  equable  climes.  In  his  heart 
he  was  desperately  jealous  of  Concha's  favored  cavaliers, 
but  it  was  a  jealousy  without  hatred,  and  his  kind 
earnest  often  humorous  eyes  were  always  assuring  his 
lady  of  an  imperishable  desire  to  serve  her  without  re 
ward.  Of  course  Concha  treated  him  with  as  little  con 
sideration  as  so  humble  a  swain  deserved;  but  in  her 
heart  she  liked  him  better  than  either  Castro  or  Sal, 
for  he  talked  to  «her  of  something  besides  rodeos  and 
balls,  racing  and  cock-fights;  he  had  taught  her  Eng 
lish  and  lent  her  many  books.  Moreover,  he  neither 
sighed  nor  languished,  nor  ever  had  sung  at  her  grating. 
But  she  regarded  him  merely  as  an  intelligence,  a  well 
of  refreshment  in  her  stagnant  life,  never  as  a  man. 

"Rosa,"  she  said  as  she  caught  her  hair  into  a  high 
golden  comb  that  had  been  worn  in  Spain  by  many  a 
beauty  of  the  house  of  Moraga,  and  spiked  the  knot  with 
two  long  pins  globed  at  the  end  with  gold,  while  the 
maid  fastened  her  slippers  and  smoothed  the  pink  silk 
stockings  over  the  arched  thin  instep  above;  "what  is 
a  lover  like?  Is  it  like  meeting  one  of  the  saints  of 
heaven?" 

"No,  senorita." 

"Like  what,  then?" 

"Like — like  nothing  but  himself,  senorita.  You 
would  not  have  him  otherwise." 

"Oh,  stupid  one!  Hast  thou  no  imagination?  Fancy 
any  man  being  well  enough  as  he  is!  For  instance, 
there  is  Don  Antonio,  who  is  so  handsome  and  fiery, 
and  Don  Ignacio,  who  can  sing  and  dance  and  ride  as 
no  one  else  in  all  the  Californias,  and  Don  Weeliam 
Sturgis,  who  is  very  clever  and  true.  If  I  could  roll 
them  into  one — a  tamale  of  corn  and  chicken  and  pep- 


56  REZANOV 

pers — there  would  be  a  man  almost  to  my  liking.  But 
even  then — not  quite.  And  one  man — what  nonsense! 
I  have  too  much  color  to-night,  Rosa. ' ' 

"No,  senorita,  you  have  never  been  so  beautiful. 
When  the  lover  comes  and  you  love  him,  senorita,  you 
will  think  him  greater  than  our  natural  king  and  lord, 
and  all  other  men  poor  Indians." 

"But  how  shall  I  know?" 

"Your  heart  will  tell  you,  senorita." 

"My  heart?  My  father  and  my  mother  will  choose 
for  me  a  husband  whom  I  shall  love  as  all  other  women 
love  their  husbands — just  enough  and  no  more.  Then — 
I  suppose — I  shall  never  know?" 

"Would- you  marry  at  your  parents'  bidding,  like  a 
child,  senorita?  I  do  not  think  you  would." 

Concha  looked  at  the  girl  in  astonishment,  but  with  a 
greater  astonishment  she  suddenly  realized  that  she 
would  not.  Even  her  little  fingers  stiffened  in  a  rush 
of  personality,  of  passionate  resentment  against  the 
shackles  bound  by  the  ages  about  the  feminine  ego.  Her 
individuality,  long  budding,  burst  into  flower ;  her  eyes 
gazed  far  beyond  her  radiant  image  in  the  mirror  with 
a  look  of  terrified  but  dauntless  insight;  then  moved 
slowly  to  the  girl  that  sat  weeping  on  the  floor. 

"I  know  not  what  thy  sin  was,"  she  said  musingly. 
"But  I  have  heard  it  said  thou  didst  obey  no  law  but 
thine  own  will — and  his.  Why  should  the  punishment 
have  been  so  terrible?  Thou  hast  sworn  to  me  thou 
didst  not  help  to  murder  the  woman." 

"I  cannot  tell  you,  senorita.  You  will  never  know 
anything  of  sin ;  but  of  love — yes,  I  think  you  will  know 
that,  and  before  very  long." 

' '  Before  long  ? ' '  Concha 's  lips  parted  and  the  nervous 
color  she  had  deprecated  left  her  cheeks.  "What 
meanest  thou,  Rosa?"  Her  voice  rose  hoarsely. 

And  the  Indian,  with  the  insight  of  her  own  tragedy, 
replied :  ' '  The  Russian  has  come  for  you,  senorita.  You 
will  go  with  him,  far  away  to  the  north  and  the  snow. 
These  others  never  could  win  your  heart ;  but  this  man 


REZANOV  57 

who  looks  like  a  king,  and  as  if  many  women  had  loved 

him,  and  he  had  cared  little Oh,  sefiorita,  Carlos 

was  only  a  poor  Indian,  but  the  men  that  women  love 
all  have  something  that  makes  them  brothers — the  great 
Russian  and  the  poor  man  who  goes  mad  for  a  moment 
and  kills  one  woman  that  he  may  live  with  another 
forever.  The  great  Russian  is  free,  but  he  is  the  same, 
senorita — he  too  could  kill  for  love,  and  such  are  the 
men  we  women  die  for ! '  * 

Concha,  ambitious  and  romantic,  eager  for  the  bril 
liant  life  the  advent  of  this  Russian  nobleman  seemed 
to  herald,  had  assured  Santiago  that  he  would  love  her ; 
but  they  had  been  the  empty  words  of  the  Favorita  of 
many  conquests ;  of  love  and  passion  she  had  known,  sus 
pected,  nothing.  ,  As  she  watched  Rosa,  huddled  and 
convulsed,  little  pointed  arrows  flew  into  her  brain. 
Girls  in  those  old  Spanish  days  went  to  the  altar  with 
a  serene  faith  in  miracles,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  honor 
among  those  that  preceded  their  friends  to  abet  the 
parents  in  a  custom  which  assuredly  did  not  err  on  the 
side  of  ugliness.  Concha  had  a  larger  vocabulary  than 
other  Californians  of  her  sex,  for  she  had  read  many 
books,  and  if  never  a  novel,  she  knew  something  of 
poetry.  Sturgis  had  filled  the  sala  with  the  sonorous 
roll  of  his  favorite  masters  and  it  had  pleased  her  ear; 
but  the  language  of  passion  had  been  so  many  beau 
tiful  words,  neither  vibrating  nor  lingering  in  her 
consciousness.  But  the  rude  expression  of  the  miserable 
woman  at  her  feet,  whose  sobs  grew  more  uncontrolla 
ble  every  moment,  made  it  forever  impossible  that  she 
should  prattle  again  as  she  had  to  Santiago  and  Rezanov 
in  the  last  day  and  night;  and  although  she  felt  as  if 
straining  her  eyes  in  the  dark,  her  cheeks  burned  once 
more,  and  she  rose  uneasily  and  walked  to  the  window. 

She  returned  in  a  moment  and  stood  over  Rosa,  but 
her  voice  when  she  spoke  had  lost  its  hoarseness  and 
was  cold  and  irritated. 

"Control  thyself,"  she  said.  "And  go  and  bathe 
thine  eyes.  Wouldst  look  like  a  tomato  when  it  is  time 


58  REZANOV 

to  pass  the  dulces  and  wines?  And  think  no  more  of 
thy  lover  until  he  can  come  out  of  prison  and  marry 
thee."  She  drew  herself  away  as  the  woman  attempted 
to  clutch  her  skirts.  "Go,"  she  said.  "The  musicians 
are  tuning." 


IX 

"THE  sash,  Excellency?"  Jon  longed  to  see  his  master 
in  full  regalia  once  more,  and  after  all,  was  not  this 
an  embassy  of  a  sort?  But  Rezanov,  who  already  re 
garded  his  reflection  with  some  humor,  shook  his  head. 

"I'll  go  as  far  as  decency  permits,  for  no  one  is  so 
impressed  by  external  magnificence  as  the  Spaniard. 
But  full  dress  uniform  and  orders  are  enough ;  an  ambas 
sador 's  sash  and  they  might  suspect  I  took  them  for  the 
children  they  arev  Children  are  not  always  fools.  My 
stock  is  too  tight.  Remember  that  I  am  to  dance,  and 
am  too  tall  for  most  women's  pretty  little  ears.  And 
I  doubt  if  an  ear  is  less  thirsty  for  being  so  provoca 
tively  screened." 

Jon,  a  "prince"  whose  family  had  fallen  upon  evil 
days  long  since,  but  whose  thin  clever  fingers  were  no 
mean  inheritance,  unwound  and  readjusted  the  folds  of 
soft  batiste,  that  most  becoming  neck  vesture  man  has 
ever  worn.  He  fain  would  have  pressed  the  matter  of 
the  sash,  but  Rezanov,  most  indulgent  of  masters  to 
this  devoted  servant,  was  never  patient  of  insistence. 
Jon  also  regretted  the  powdered  wig  and  queue,  which 
he  privately  thought  more  befitting  a  fine  gentleman 
than  his  own  hair,  even  though  the  latter  were  thick 
and  bright.  He  said  tentatively: 

"I  notice  these  Calif ornians  still  wear  the  hair  long; 
and  with  their  gay  ribbons  and  showy  hats  look  much 
better  no  doubt  than  if  they  followed  a  fashion  of 
which  it  would  seem  they  had  not  heard — and  perhaps 
do  not  admire.  I  ventured  to  pack  two  of  your  excel 
lency's  wigs  when  we  were  leaving  St.  Petersburg " 

"Good  heavens,  no!"  cried  Rezanov,  rising  to  his 
feet  and  casting  a  last  impatient  glance  at  the  mirror. 

59 


60  REZANOV 

"When  a  man  has  escaped  from  a  furnace  does  he  run 
back  of  his  own  accord?  My  brain  would  cook  under 
a  wig  in  this  climate,  and  I  need  all  my  wits — for  more 
reasons  than  one."  And  he  went  up  on  deck. 

There,  while  awaiting  his  horses  and  escort  he  had 
another  glimpse  of  the  happy  Arcadian  life  of  the  Cali- 
fornians.  Over  the  sand  hills  through  which  he  had 
floundered  twice  that  day  rode  young  men  in  gala  attire, 
a  maiden,  her  attire  as  brilliant  as  the  sunset  along 
the  western  summits,  on  the  saddle  before  them.  These 
saddles  were  heavy  with  silver,  the  blanket  beneath  was 
embroidered  with  both  silver  and  gold.  Gay  light 
laughter  floated  out  on  the  cool  evening  breeze  to  the 
little  ship  in  the  harbor. 

"It  has  been  a  good  day,"  thought  Rezanov,  lowering 
his  glass.  "It  is  like  her  to  arrange  so  charming  a 
finale." 

"When  he  arrived  at  the  Presidio  the  guitars  were 
tinkling  and  the  sala  was  full  of  eager  and  somber 
faces.  The  Californians  had  come  early,  determined  to 
witness  the  arrival  of  the  Russians.  Very  pretty  most 
of  the  girls  were,  and  by  no  means  a  bevy  of  brunettes. 
There  was  hair  of  every  shade  of  brown,  looped  over  the 
ears,  drawn  high  and  confined  by  the  high  comb  and 
the  long  pins;  and  Rafaella  Sal,  with  her  red  hair  and 
gray  eyes,  was  still  celebrated  as  a  beauty,  although 
no  longer  in  her  first  youth — she  was  twenty-two,  and 
should  have  been  a  matron  and  mother  long  since !  But 
she  looked  very  handsome  and  coquettish  in  her  daring 
yellow  frock  that  no  other  red  head  would  have  dared 
to  wear,  and  she  displayed  three  ropes  of  Baja  Cali 
fornia  pearls,  one  strand  being  the  common  possession. 
The  matrons,  young  and  old,  wore  heavy  satins  or  bro 
cades,  either  red  or  yellow,  but  the  maids  were  in  flow 
ered  silks,  sometimes  with  coquettish  little  jacket,  gen 
erally  with  long  pointed  bodice  and  full  flowing  skirt. 
Concha's  frock  was  made  in  this  fashion,  but  quite 
different  otherwise ;  an  aunt  in  the  City  of  Mexico  being 
mindful  at  whiles  of  the  cravings  of  relatives  in  exile. 


REZANOV  61 

It  was  of  a  soft  shimmering  white  stuff  covered  with 
gold  spangles  and  cut  to  reveal  her  young  neck  and 
arms.  She  stood  at  the  head  of  the  room  with  her  mother 
as  Rezanov  entered,  and  he  noticed  for  the  first  time 
how  tall  she  was.  She  held  herself  proudly ;  mischievous 
twinkle,  nor  child-like  trust,  nor  flashing  coquetry  pos 
sessed  her  eyes;  these,  even  more  star-like  than  usual, 
nevertheless  looked  out  upon  her  guests  with  a  dignified 
composure.  Her  lips,  her  skin,  were  luminous.  In  this 
well-cut  evening  gown  she  saw  that  her  figure  was  su 
perb  ;  and  that  she  could  command  stateliness  as  well  as 
vivacity  moved  her  toward  a  pedestal  in  his  regard  that 
had  been  occupied  by  few  and  never  for  long. 

Rezanov,  in  his  splendid  uniform  and  blazing  orders, 
filled  the  sala  with  his  presence  as  he  walked  past  the 
rows  of  bright  critical  eyes  toward  his  hostesses.  The 
young  lips  of  the  maids  parted  with  delight  and  the 
men  frowned.  For  the  first  time  William  Sturgis  felt 
the  sickness  of  jealousy  instead  of  its  not  unagreeable 
pain.  Davidov  and  Khostov,  both  handsome  and  well- 
bred  young  men,  were  also  in  full  naval  uniform,  and 
by  no  means  ignored;  while  Langsdorff,  in  the  severe 
black  of  the  scholar,  was  an  admirable  foil. 

Rezanov,  wondering  at  the  subtle  change  in  Concha, 
bowed  ceremoniously  and  murmured:  "You  will  give 
me  the  first  dance,  seriorita?" 

"Certainly,  Excellency.  Are  you  not  the  guest  of 
honor?" 

She  motioned  to  the  Indian  musicians,  fiddles  and 
guitars  fairly  leaped  to  position,  and  in  a  moment  Re 
zanov  enjoyed  the  novel  delusion  of  encircling  a  girl's 
floating  wraith. 

"We  can  waltz,  you  see!    Are  you  not  surprised?" 

"It  is  but  one  accomplishment  the  more.  I  feared 
a  preference  for  your  native  dances,  but  ventured  to 
hope  you  would  teach  me." 

"They  are  easy  to  learn.  You  will  watch  us  dance 
the  contra-danza  after  this." 

"With  whom  do  you  dance  it?" 


62  REZANOV 

Her  black  eyelashes  were  very  thick ;  he  barely  caught 
the  glance  she  shot  him. 

"The  Russian  bear  growls,"  she  said  lightly.  "Did 
you  expect  to  dance  every  dance  with  me?" 

"I  came  for  no  other  purpose." 

"You  would  have  several  duels  to  fight  to-morrow." 

"I  have  no  objection." 

"You  have  fought  others,  then?"  Her  voice  was 
the  softer  with  the  effort  to  turn  its  edge. 

"No  more  than  most  men,  I  suppose.  May  I  ask 
how  many  have  been  fought  for  you?" 

"My  memory  is  no  better  than  yours.  Why  should 
I  burden  it  with  trifles?" 

"True.  It  doubtless  is  charged  with  matters  far 
more  serious  than  the  desires  of  mere  men.  Tell  me, 
senorita,  what  is  your  dearest  wish?"  He  had  bent 
his  head  and  fixed  his  powerful  gaze  on  her  stubborn 
lashes.  As  he  hoped,  she  raised  startled  eyes  in  which 
an  angry  glitter  dawned. 

"My  dearest  wish?  If  I  had  one  should  I  tell  you? 
Why  do  you  ask  me  such  a  question?" 

1 '  Because  I  lit  a  candle  at  the  Mission  to-day  that  you 
might  realize  it,"  he  answered  smiling. 

To  his  surprise  he  saw  a  flash  of  terror  in  her  eyes 
before  she  dropped  them,  and  felt  her  shiver.  But  she 
answered  coldly: 

"You  have  wasted  a  candle,  senor.  I  have  never 
had  a  wish  that  was  not  instantly  gratified.  But  I 
thank  you  for  the  kind  thought.  Will  you  finish  this 
waltz  with  my  friend,  and  the  fiancee  of  Luis,  Bafaella 
Sal  ?  She  has  quarrelled  with  Luis,  I  see ;  Don  Weeliam 
is  dancing  with  Carolina  Ximeno,  and  she  cares  to  waltz 
with  no  one  else.  Pardon  me  if  I  say  that  no  one  has 
ever  waltzed  as  well  as  your  excellency,  and  I  must 
not  be  selfish." 

"I  will  release  you  if  you  are  tired,  but  otherwise 
I  shall  do  myself  the  honor  to  waltz  with  your  friend 
later." 

' '  I  must  look  after  my  other  guests, ' '  she  said,  coldly ; 


REZANOV  63 

and  he  was  led  with  what  grace  he  could  summon  to 
the  fair  but  sulky  Rafaella. 

"How  am  I  to  help  flirting  with  that  girl?"  he 
thought  as  he  mechanically  guided  another  light  and 
graceful  partner  through  the  crowded  room.  "If  she 
were  one  girl  I  might  resist.  But  since  eleven  o'clock 
yesterday  morning  she  has  been  three.  And  if  she  was 
twenty  yesterday,  twelve  this  morning,  she  is  twenty- 
eight  to-night,  and  this  might  be  a  court  ball  in  Madrid. 
I  shall  leave  the  day  after  I  bring  the  Governor  to 
terms. ' ' 

He  sat  beside  Dona  Ignacia  during  the  contra-danza 
and  found  the  scene  remarkably  brilliant  and  animated 
considering  the  primitive  conditions.  In  addition  to 
the  bright  flags  on  the  wall  and  the  vivid  colors  of  the 
women,  the  officers  of  the  Presidio  and  forts  wore  full 
dress  uniform,  either  white  coats  with  red  velvet  vest, 
red  pantaloons  and  sash,  or  white  trousers  and  scarlet 
coat  and  waistcoat  faced  with  green.  The  young  men 
from  the  Mission  wore  small  clothes  of  a  black  silk, 
fastened  at  the  knee  with  silver  buckles,  and  white  silk 
stockings ;  two  gentlemen  from  Monterey  wore  the  even 
ing  costume  of  the  capital,  dove-colored  small  clothes, 
with  white  silk  waistcoat  and  stockings,  and  much  fine 
lawn  and  lace.  The  room  was  well  lighted  by  many 
wicks  stuck  in  lumps  of  tallow.  The  Indian  musicians, 
soldiers  recruited  from  a  superior  tribe  in  the  Santa 
Clara  valley,  were  clad  almost  entirely  in  scarlet,  and 
danced  sometimes  as  they  played;  and  Indian  girls,  in 
short  red  skirts  and  snow-white  smocks  open  at  the 
throat,  their  long  hair  decorated  with  flowers  and  rib 
bons,  already  passed  about  wine  and  dulces.  The  win 
dows  were  open.  The  sweet  night  air  blew  in. 

The  contra-danza  was  not  unlike  the  square  dances  of 
England  except  that  it  was  far  more  graceful,  and  the 
men  rivalled  the  women  in  their  supple  glidings  and 
bendings,  doublings  and  swayings.  Concha  danced  with 
Ignacio  Sal,  Rafaella  with  William  Sturgis;  their  pliant 
grace,  as  facile  as  grain  rippling  before  the  wind,  would 


64  REZANOV 

have  put  the  best  ballet  in  Europe  to  the  blush. 
Concha's  skirts  swept  Rezanov's  feet,  her  little  slippers 
twinkled  before  his  admiring  eyes,  and  he  lost  no  sinu 
ous  turn  or  undulation  of  her  beautiful  figure ;  but  she 
never  vouchsafed  him  a  glance. 

When  the  dance  finished  his  host  introduced  him 
to  the  prettiest  of  the  girls  and  he  paid  them  as  many 
compliments  as  their  heads  would  stand.  He  even  took 
some  trouble  to  talk  to  them,  if  only  to  fathom  the 
sources  of  their  unlikeness  to  Concha  Argiiello.  He 
concluded  that  the  gulf  that  separated  her  from  these 
charming  vivacious  shallow  young  girls  was  not  dug  by 
education  alone.  Individualities  were  rare  enough  in 
Europe ;  out  here,  in  earthly,  but  sparsely  settled  para 
dises,  they  must  be  rarer  still ;  but  that  one  had  wandered 
into  the  lovely  shell  of  Concha  Argiiello  he  no  longer 
doubted.  The  fact  that  it  had  developed  haphazardly, 
with  little  or  no  help  from  her  sentience,  and  was  still 
fluid  and  uncertain,  but  multiplied  her  in  interest  and 
charm.  The  women  to  whom  he  was  accustomed  knew 
themselves,  consequently  were  no  riddle  to  a  man  of  his 
experience,  but  here  he  had  an  odd  sense  of  having 
entered  into  a  compact  in  the  dark  with  a  girl  who 
might  one  day  symbolize  some  high  and  impassioned 
ideal  he  had  cherished  in  the  days  before  ideals  had  been 
cast  aside  with  the  negative  virtues  that  bred  them. 

As  he  coolly  studied  the  good  looks  of  the  young 
caballeros  and  the  plain  intellectual  face  and  slight  little 
figure  of  the  Bostonian,  noted  the  utter  indifference  with 
which  they  were  treated  by  the  Favorita  of  Presidio  and 
Mission,  he  felt  a  sudden  rush  of  arrogance,  a  youthful 
tingling  of  nerves,  the  same  prophetic  sense  of  imminent 
happiness  and  power  that  his  first  contact  with  the 
light  electrical  air  and  the  beauty  of  the  country  had 
induced.  After  all,  he  was  but  forty-two.  Life  on  the 
whole  had  been  very  kind  to  him.  And,  although  he  did 
not  realize  it  as  yet,  his  frame,  blighted  by  the  rigors 
of  the  past  three  years,  was  already  sensible  to  a  re 
newal  of  juice  and  sap.  He  admitted  that  he  was  more 


REZANOV  65 

interested  than  he  had  been  for  many  years,  and  that  if 
he  was  not  in  love,  he  tingled  with  a  very  natural  mas 
culine  desire  for  an  adventure  with  a  pretty  girl. 

But  he  was  by  no  means  a  weak  man,  and  his  mind 
counted  the  cost  even  while  his  imagination  hummed. 
He  had  almost  decided  to  bid  Dona  Ignacia  an  abrupt 
good-night,  pleading  fatigue,  which  his  pallor  indorsed, 
when  the  door  of  the  dining-room  was  thrown  open  to 
the  liveliest  of  fiddling,  and  a  white  hand  with  a  singular 
suggestion  of  tenacity  both  in  appearance  and  clasp  took 
possession  of  his  arm. 

"My  mother  has  gone  to  Gertrudis  Rudisinda,  who  is 
crying,"  said  Concha.  ''It  is  my  pleasure  to  lead  your 
excellency  in  to  supper." 

They  sat  side 'by  side  at  the  head  of  the  long  table 
almost  covered  by  the  massive  service  of  silver  and 
loaded  with  evidences  of  Dona  Ignacia 's  generosity  and 
skill;  chickens  in  red  rice  and  gravy,,  oysters,  tamales, 
dulces,  pastries,  fruits  and  pleasant  drinks.  Luis,  with 
Rafaella  Sal  dimpling  and  sparkling  at  his  side,  and 
now  quite  resigned  to  the  semi-official  nature  of  the  ball, 
rose  and  drank  the  health  of  the  distinguished  guest  in 
long  and  flowery  phrases.  Rezanov  responded  in  briefer 
but  no  less  felicitous  vein,  and  concluded  by  remarking 
that  the  only  rift  in  the  lute  of  his  present  enchanting 
experience  was  the  fear  that  whereas  he  had  nearly  died 
of  starvation  several  times  during  the  past  three  years, 
he  was  now  threatened  with  a  far  more  ignominious  end, 
so  delicious  and  irresistible  were  the  temptations  that 
beset  the  wayfarer  in  this  most  hospitable  land.  Both 
speeches  were  gaily  applauded,  the  conversation  became 
animated  and  general,  and  Concha  dropped  her  voice 
to  the  attentive  ear  beside  her. 

"You  were  very  successful  to-day  at  the  Mission, 
Excellency." 

"May  I  ask  how  you  know?" 

"I  never  saw  anything  so  serenely — arrogantly,  per 
haps  would  be  a  truer  description — triumphant  as  your 
bearing  when  you  walked  down  our  humble  sala  to- 


66  REZANOV 

night.  You  looked  like  Cassar  returned  from  Gaul ;  but 
I  suppose  that  all  great  conquests  are  merely  the  sum 
of  many  small  ones." 

"I  do  not  regard  the  friendship  of  so  shrewd  a  man 
as  Father  Abella  a  trifling  conquest.  And  according 
to  yourself,  dear  senorita,  it  is  essential  to  the  success 
of  a  mission  upon  which  many  lives  and  my  own  honor 
depend. ' ' 

"Is  it  really  so  serious?"  she  asked  with  a  faint 
sneer. 

He  drew  himself  up  stiffly  and  his  light  eyes  glowed 
with  anger.  "It  is  a  subject  I  never  should  have 
thought  of  introducing  at  a  festivity  like  this,"  he  said 
suavely.  "May  I  be  permitted  to  compliment  you, 
senorita,  upon  your  marvellous  grace  in  the  contra- 
danza?  It  quite  turned  my  head,  and  I  am  delighted 
to  hear  that  you  will  dance  alone  after  supper." 

Her  face  had  flushed  hotly.  She  dropped  her  eyes 
and  her  voice  trembled  as  she  replied :  ' '  You  humiliate 
me,  senor,  and  I  deserve  it.  I — my  poor  Rosa  told  me 
something  of  her  great  tragedy  while  dressing  me,  and 
for  the  moment  other  things  seemed  unimportant.  What 
is  hunger  and  court  favor  beside  a  broken  heart  and  a 
desolate  life?  But  that  of  course  is  the  attitude  of  an 
ignorant  girl."  She  raised  her  eyes.  They  were  soft, 
and  her  voice  was  softer.  "I  beg  that  you  will  forgive 
me,  senor.  And  be  sure  that  I  take  an  even  deeper  inter 
est  in  your  great  mission  than  yesterday.  I  have  thought 
much  about  it,  and  while  I  have  told  my  mother  noth 
ing,  I  have  expressed  certain  peevish  hopes  that  a  ship 
would  not  come  all  the  way  from  Sitka  without  taking 
a  hint  more  than  one  Boston  skipper  must  have  given, 
and  brought  us  many  of  the  things  we  need.  She  is 
quite  excited  over  the  prospect  of  a  new  shawl  for  her 
self,  and  of  sending  several  as  presents  to  the  south; 
besides  many  other  things:  cotton,  shoes,  kitchen  uten 
sils.  Have  you  any  of  these  things,  Excellency?" 

Rezanov  stared  at  her  face,  barely  tinted  with  color, 
dully  wondering  why  it  should  be  so  different  from  the 


REZANOV  67 

one  roguish,  pathetically  innocent,  that  had  haunted  him 
all  day.  He  asked  abruptly: 

"Which  is  the  friend  whose  little  ones  you  envy? 
You  have  made  me  wish  to  see  them  and  her." 

"That  is  Elena — beside  Gervasio."  She  indicated  a 
young  woman  with  soft  patient  brown  eyes,  the  dignity 
of  her  race  and  the  sweetness  of  young  motherhood, 
who  would  have  looked  little  older  than  herself  had  it 
not  been  for  an  already  shapeless  figure.  "I  can  take 
you  to-morrow  to  see  them  if  you  wish." 

She  had  cast  down  her  eyes  and  her  face  was  white. 
Still  he  groped  on. 

"Pardon  me  if  I  say  that  I  am  surprised  your  par 
ents  should  permit  such  a  woman  as  this  Rosa  to  attend 
you.  Why  should  your  happy  life  be  disturbed  by  the 
lamentations  of  an  abandoned  creature — who  can  do  you 
no  good,  and  possibly  much  harm?" 

Still  Concha  did  not  raise  her  eyes.  "I  do  not  think 
poor  Rosa  would  do  anyone  harm.  But  perhaps  it  were 
as  well  she  went  elsewhere.  We  have  had  her  long 
enough.  I  have  taken  a  dislike  to  her.  I  reproach 
myself  bitterly,  but  I  cannot  help  it.  I  should  like  never 
to  see  her  again." 

"What  has  she  told  you?"  Concha  glanced  up 
swiftly.  His  eyes  were  blazing.  She  felt  quite  certain 
that  he  rolled  a  Russian  oath  under  his  tongue,  and  she 
made  a  slight  involuntary  motion  toward  him,  her  lips 
trembling  apart. 

"Nothing,"  she  murmured.  "I  do  not  know — I  do 
not  know.  But  I  no  longer  wish  her  near  me.  She — 
life  is  very  strange  and  terrible,  senor.  You  know  it 
well— I,  so  little." 

Rezanov  felt  his  breath  short  and  his  hands  cold. 
For  a  moment  he  made  no  reply.  Then  he  smiled 
charmingly  and  said  in  the  conventional  tone  that  was 
ever  at  his  command:  "Of  course  you  know  little  of 
life  in  this  Arcadia.  One  who  hopes  to  be  numbered 
among  the  best  of  your  friends  prays  that  you  never 
may.  Yes,  senorita,  life  is  strange — strangely  common- 


68  REZANOV 

place  and  disillusionizing — but  sometimes  picturesque. 
Believe  me  when  I  say  that  nothing  stranger  has  ever 
befallen  me  than  to  find  out  here  on  the  lonely  brink 
of  a  continent  nearly  twenty  thousand  versts  from 
Europe,  a  girl  of  sixteen  with  the  grand  manner,  and  an 
intellect  without  the  detestable  idiosyncrasies  of  the 
fashionable  bas  bleus  I  have  hitherto  had  the  misfortune 
to  encounter." 

She  was  tapping  the  table  slowly  with  her  fork,  and 
he  noted  that  her  soft  childish  mouth  was  set.  "No 
doubt  you  are  quite  right  to  put  me  off, ' '  she  said  finally, 
and  in  a  voice  as  even  as  his  own.  "And  my  intellect 
would  do  me  little  good  if  it  did  not  teach  me  to  ignore 
mysteries  I  can  never  hope  to  fathom.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  life  in  your  sense  in  this  forgotten  corner  of 
the  world,  nor  ever  will  be  in  my  time.  If  you  come 
back  and  visit  us  twenty  years  hence  you  will  find  me 
fat  and  worn  like  Elena,  and  busy  every  minute  like 
my  mother — unless,  indeed,  I  marry  Don  Weeliam 
Sturgis  and  become  a  great  lady  in  Boston.  It  would 
not  be  so  mean  a  fate." 

Rezanov  darted  a  look  of  angry  contempt  at  the  pale 
young  man  who  was  eating  little  and  miserably  watch 
ing  the  handsome  pair  at  the  head  of  the  table.  "You 
will  not  marry  him ! "  he  said  briefly. 

"I  could  do  far  worse."  Concha's  lashes  framed  an 
adorable  glance  that  sent  the  blood  to  the  hair  of  the 
sensitive  youth.  "You  have  no  idea  how  clever  and  good 
he  is.  And — Madre  de  Dios! — I  am  so  tired  of  Cali 
fornia.  ' ' 

"But  you  are  a  part  of  it — the  very  symbol  of  its 
future,  it  seems  to  me.  I  wish  I  had  a  sculptor  in  my 
suite.  I  should  make  him  model  you,  label  the  statue 
'California,'  and  erect  it  on  the  peak  of  that  big  island 
out  there." 

"That  is  very  poetical,  but  after  all  you  are  only 
saying  that  I  am  a  pretty  savage  with  an  education 
that  will  be  more  common  in  the  next  generation.  It  is 
little  consolation  for  an  existence  where  the  most  ex- 


REZANOV  69 

citing  event  in  a  lifetime  is  the  arrival  of  a  foreign 
ship  or  the  inauguration  of  a  governor."  And  once 
more  she  smiled  at  Sturgis.  He  raised  his  glass  impul 
sively,  and  she  hers  in  gay  response.  A  moment  later 
she  gave  the  signal  to  leave  the  table.  Rezanov  fol 
lowed  her  back  to  the  sala  chewing  the  cud  of  many 
reflections. 


CONCHA  had  eaten  no  supper.  As  she  entered  the  sala 
she  clapped  her  hands,  the  guests  ranged  themselves 
against  the  wall,  the  musicians,  livelier  than  ever,  flew 
to  their  instruments;  with  the  drifting  swaying 
movement  she  could  assume  at  will,  she  went  slowly, 
absently,  to  the  middle  of  the  room.  Then  she  let  her 
head  drop  backward,  as  if  with  the  weight  of  her  hair, 
and  Kezanov,  vaguely  angry,  expected  one  of  those 
appeals  to  the  senses  for  which  Spanish  women  of  an 
other  sort  were  notorious.  But  Concha,  after  tapping 
the  floor  alternately  with  the  points  and  the  wooden  heels 
of  her  slippers,  for  a  few  moments,  suddenly  made  an 
imperious  gesture  to  Ignacio  Sal.  He  sprang  to  her 
side,  took  her  hand,  and  once  more  there  was  the  same 
monotonous  tapping  of  toes  and  heels.  Then  they 
whirled  apart,  bent  their  lithe  backs  until  their  brows 
almost  touched  the  floor  in  a  salute  of  mock  admiration, 
and  danced  to  and  from  each  other,  coquetry  in  the  very 
tilt  of  her  eyebrows,  the  bare  semblance  of  masculine 
indulgence  on  his  eager  passionate  face.  Suddenly  to 
the  surprise  of  all,  she  snapped  her  fingers  directly  un 
der  his  nose,  waved  her  hand,  turned  her  back,  and 
made  a  peremptory  gesture  to  that  other  enamoured 
young  swain,  Captain  Antonio  Castro  of  Monterey.  Don 
Ignacio,  surprised  and  discomfited,  retired  amidst  the 
jeers  of  his  friends,  and  Concha,  with  her  most  vivacious 
and  gracious  manner,  met  Castro  halfway,  and,  taking 
his  hand,  danced  up  and  down  the  sala,  slowly  and  with 
many  improvisations.  Then,  as  they  returned  to  the 
center  of  the  room  and  stepped  lightly  apart  before 
joining  in  a  gay  whirl,  she  snapped  her  fingers  under 
his  nose,  made  a  gesture  of  dismissal  over  her  shoulder, 

70 


REZANOV  71 

and  fluttered  an  uplifted  hand  in  the  direction  of  Stur- 
gis.  Again  there  was  delighted  laughter,  again  a  dis 
comforted  knight  and  a  triumphant  partner. 

"Concha  always  gives  us  something  we  do  not  ex 
pect,"  said  Santiago  to  Rezanov,  whose  eyes  were  twin 
kling.  "The  other  girls  dance  El  Son  and  La  Jota 
very  gracefully — yes.  But  Conchita  dances  with  her 
head,  and  the  musicians  and  the  partner,  when  she  takes 
one,  have  all  they  can  do  to  follow.  She  will  choose 
you,  next,  sefior." 

Rezanov  turned  cold,  and  measured  the  distance  to 
the  door.  ' '  I  hope  not ! "  he  said.  ' '  I  should  hate  noth 
ing  so  much  as  to  make  an  exhibition  of  myself.  The 
dances  I  know — that  is  all  very  well — but  to  improvise 
— for  the  love  of.heaven  help  me  to  get  out ! ' ' 

But  Santiago,  who  was  watching  his  sister  intently, 
replied:  "Wait  a  moment,  Excellency.  I  do  not  think 
she  will  choose  another.  I  know  by  her  feet  that  she 
intends  to  dance  El  Son — in  her  own  way,  of  course — 
after  all." 

Concha  circled  about  the  room  twice  with  Sturgis, 
lifted  him  to  the  seventh  heaven  of  expectancy,  dis 
missed  him  as  abruptly  as  the  others.  Lifting  her  chin 
with  an  expression  of  supreme  disdain  for  all  his  sex, 
she  stood  a  moment,  swaying,  her  arms  hanging  at  her 
sides. 

"I  am  glad  she  will  not  dance  with  "Weeliam,"  mut 
tered  Santiago.  "I  love  him — yes;  but  the  Spanish 
dance  is  not  for  the  Bostonian. ' ' 

Rezanov  awaited  her  performance  with  an  interest 
that  caused  him  some  cynical  amusement.  But  in  a 
moment  he  had  surrendered  to  her  once  more  as  a  crea 
ture  of  inexhaustible  surprise.  The  musicians  watching 
her  began  to  play  more  slowly.  Concha,  her  arms  still 
supine,  her  head  lifted,  her  eyes  half  veiled,  began  to 
dance  in  a  stately  and  measured  fashion  that  seemed  to 
powder  her  hair  and  dissolve  the  partitions  before  an 
endless  vista  of  rooms.  Rezanov  had  a  sudden  vision  of 
the  Hall  of  the  Ambassadors  in  the  royal  palace  at 


72  REZANOV 

Madrid,  where,  when  a  young  man  on  his  travels,  he 
had  attended  a  state  ball.  There  he  had  seen  the  most 
dignified  beauties  of  Europe  dance  at  the  most  formal 
of  its  courts.  But  Concha  created  the  illusion  of  hav 
ing  stepped  down  from  the  throne  in  some  bygone  fash 
ion  to  dance  alone  for  her  subjects  and  adorers. 

She  raised  her  arms,  barely  budding  at  the  top,  with 
a  gesture  that  was  not  only  the  poetry  of  grace  but  as 
though  bestowing  some  royal  favor;  when  she  curved 
and  swayed  her  body,  again  it  was  with  the  lofty  sweet 
ness  of  one  too  highly  placed  to  descend  to  mere  seduc 
tiveness.  She  glided  up  and  down,  back  and  forth,  with 
a  dreamy  revealing  motion  as  if  assisting  to  shape  some 
vague  impassioned  image  in  the  brain  of  a  poet.  She 
lifted  her  little  feet  in  a  manner  that  transformed  boards 
into  clouds.  There  were  moments  when  she  seemed 
actually  to  soar. 

"She  is  a  little  genius!"  thought  Rezanov  enthusias 
tically.  "  Anything  could  be  made  of  a  woman  like 
that." 

It  was  not  her  dancing  alone  that  interested  him,  but 
its  effect  on  her  audience.  The  young  men  had  begun 
with  audible  expressions  of  approval.  They  were  now 
shouting  and  stamping  and  clapping.  Suddenly,  as 
once  more  she  danced  back  to  the  very  center  of  the 
room,  her  bosom  heaving,  her  eyes  like  stars,  her  red  lips 
parted,  Don  Ignacio,  long  since  recovered  from  his 
spleen,  invaded  his  pocket  and  flung  a  handful  of  silver 
at  her  feet.  It  was  a  signal.  Gold  and  silver  coins, 
chains,  watches,  jewels,  bounced  over  the  floor,  to  be 
laughingly  ignored.  Rezanov  looked  on  in  amazement, 
wondering  if  this  were  a  part  of  the  performance  and 
if  he  should  follow  suit.  But  after  a  glance  at  the  faces 
of  the  young  men,  lost  to  everything  but  their  passion 
ate  admiration  for  the  unique  and  beautiful  dancing  of 
their  Favorita,  and  when  Sturgis,  after  wildly  searching 
in  his  pockets,  tore  a  large  pearl  from  the  lace  of  his 
stock,  he  doubted  no  longer — nor  hesitated.  Fastened 
by  a  blue  ribbon  to  the  fourth  button  of  his  closely 


REZANOV  73 

fitting  coat  was  a  golden  key,  the  outward  symbol  of 
his  rank  at  court.  He  detached  it,  then  made  a  sudden 
gesture  that  caught  her  attention.  For  a  moment  their 
eyes  met.  He  tossed  her  the  bauble,  and  mechanically 
she  lifted  her  hand  and  caught  it.  Then  she  laughed 
confusedly,  shrugged  her  shoulders,  bowed  graciously  to 
her  audience,  and  signalled  to  the  musicians  to  stop. 
Rezanov  was  at  her  side  in  a  moment. 

"You  must  be  tired/'  he  said.  "I  insist  that  you 
come  out  on  the  veranda  and  rest. ' ' 

"Very  well,"  she  said  indifferently;  "it  is  quite  time 
we  all  went  out  to  the  air.  Santiago  mio,  wilt  thou 
bring  my  reboso — the  white  one?" 

Santiago,  more  flushed  than  his  sister  at  her  triumphs, 
fetched  the  long  strip  of  silk,  and  Rezanov  detached 
her  from  her  eager  court  and  led  her  without.  Elena 
Castro  followed  closely,  yet  with  a  cavalier  of  her  own 
that  her  friend  might  talk  freely  with  this  interesting 
stranger.  The  night  air  was  cool  and 'stimulating.  The 
hills  were  black  under  the  sparks  of  white  fire  in  the 
high  arch  of  the  California  sky.  In  the  Presidio  square 
were  long  blue  shadows  that  might  have  been  reflections 
of  the  smoldering  blue  beyond  the  stars.  Rezanov  and 
Concha  sat  on  the  railing  at  the  end  of  the  "corridor." 

"It  is  a  custom — all  that  very  material  admiration?" 
he  asked. 

"A  very  old  one,  but  not  too  often  followed.  Other 
wise  we  should  not  prize  it.  But  when  some  Favorita 
outdoes  herself  then  she  receives  the  greatest  reward 
that  man  can  think  of — gold  and  silver  and  jewels.  We 
do  not  dare  to  return  the  tributes  in  common  fashion, 
but  they  have  a  way  of  appearing  where  they  belong  as 
soon  as  their  owners  are  supposed  to  have  forgotten  the 
incident.  As  you  are  not  a  Californian,  senor,  I  take 
the  liberty  of  returning  this  without  any  foolish  sub 
terfuge."  She  handed  him  his  contribution.  "I  thank 
you  all  the  same.  It  was  a  spontaneous  act,  and  I  am 
very  proud." 

He  accepted  the  key  awkwardly,  not  daring  to  press 


74  REZANOV 

it  upon  her,  with  the  obvious  banalities.  But  he  felt  a 
sudden  desire  to  give  her  something,  £~i,  nothing  better 
offering,  he  gathered  half  a  dozen  roses  and  laid  them 
on  her  lap. 

"I  was  disappointed  that  you  did  not  wear  your  roses 
to-night,"  he  said.  "I  associate  them  with  you  in  my 
thoughts.  Will  you  put  one  in  your  hair?" 

She  found  a  place  for  two  and  thrust  another  in  the 
neck  of  her  gown.  The  rest  she  held  closely  in  her 
hands.  Then  he  noticed  that  she  was  very  white,  and 
again  she  shivered. 

"You  are  cold  and  tired,"  he  murmured,  his  eyes 
melting  to  hers.  "It  was  entrancing,  but  I  hope  never 
to  see  you  give  so  much  of  yourself  to  others  again." 
His  hand  in  arranging  the  reboso  touched  hers.  It  lin 
gered,  and  she  stared  up  at  him,  helplessly,  her  eyes 
wide,  her  lips  parted.  She  reminded  him  of  a  rabbit 
caught  in  a  trap,  and  he  had  a  sudden  and  violent  re 
vulsion  of  feeling.  He  rose  and  offered  his  arm.  "I 
should  be  a  brute  if  I  kept  you  talking  out  here.  Slip 
off  and  go  to  bed.  I  shall  start  the  guests,  for  I  am 
very  tired  myself." 


XI 

HE  did  not  talk  with  her  again  for  several  days.  He 
called  in  state,  but  remained  only  a  few  moments.  His 
officers  went  to  several  impromptu  dances  at  the  Pre 
sidio  and  Mission,  but  he  pleaded  fatigue,  natural  in 
the  damaged  state  of  his  constitution,  and  left  the  ship 
only  for  a  gallop  over  the  hills  or  down  the  coast  with 
Luis  Argiiello. 

But  he  had  never  felt  better.  At  the  end  of  a  week 
his  pallor  had  gone,  his  skin  was  tanned  and  fresh. 
Even  his  wretched  crew  were  different  men.  They  were 
given  much  leave  on  shore,  and  already  might  be  seen 
escorting  the  serving-women  over  the  hills  in  the  late 
afternoon.  Rezanov  gave  them  a  long  rope,  although 
he  knew  they  must  be  germinating  with  a  mutinous  dis 
taste  of  the  Russian  north ;  he  kept  a  strict  watch  over 
them  and  would  have  given  a  deserter  his  due  without 
an  instant's  pause. 

The  estafette  that  had  gone  with  Luis'  letters  to  Mon 
terey  had  taken  one  from  Rezanov  as  well,  asking  per 
mission  to  pay  a  visit  of  ceremony  to  the  Governor. 
Five  days  later  the  plenipotentiary  received  a  polite 
welcome  to  California,  and  protest  against  another  long 
journey ;  the  humble  servant  of  the  King  of  Spain  would 
himself  go  to  San  Francisco  at  once  and  offer  the  hos 
pitality  of  California  to  the  illustrious  representative 
of  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias. 

Rezanov  was  not  only  annoyed  at  the  Governor's  evi 
dent  determination  that  he  should  see  as  little  as  possible 
of  the  insignificant  military  equipment  of  California, 
but  at  the  delay  to  his  own  plans  for  exploration.  He 
knew  that  Luis  would  dare  take  him  upon  no  expedition 
into  the  heart  of  the  country  without  the  consent  of  the 

75 


76  REZANOV 

Governor,  and  he  began  to  doubt  this  consent  would  be 
given.  But  he  was  determined  to  see  the  bay,  at  least, 
and  he  no  sooner  read  the  diplomatic  epistle  from  Mon 
terey  than  he  decided  to  accomplish  this  part  of  his 
purpose  before  the  arrival  of  the  Governor  or  Don  Jose. 
He  knew  the  material  he  had  to  deal  with  at  the  mo 
ment,  but  nothing  of  that  already,  no  doubt,  on  their 
way  to  the  north. 

Early  in  the  morning  after  the  return  of  the  courier 
he  wrote  an  informal  note  to  Dona  Ignacia,  asking  her 
to  give  him  the  honor  of  entertaining  her  for  a  day  on 
the  Juno,  and  to  bring  all  the  young  people  she  would. 
As  the  weather  was  so  fine,  he  hoped  to  see  them  in 
time  for  chocolate  at  nine  o'clock.  He  knew  that  Luis, 
who  was  pressingly  included  in  the  invitation,  had 
left  at  daybreak  for  his  father 's  rancho  some  thirty  miles 
to  the  south. 

There  was  a  flutter  at  the  Presidio  when  the  invita 
tion  of  the  Chamberlain  was  made  known.  The  compli 
ment  was  not  unexpected,  but  there  had  been  a  lively 
speculation  as  to  what  form  the  Russian's  return  of 
hospitality  would  take.  Concha,  whose  tides  had  thun 
dered  and  ebbed  many  times  since  the  night  of  her 
party,  submerging  the  happy  inconsequence  of  her  six 
teen  years,  but  leaving  her  unshaken  spirit  with  wide 
clarified  vision,  felt  young  to-day  from  sheer  reaction. 
She  would  listen  to  no  protest  from  her  prudent  mother, 
and  smothered  her  with  kisses  and  a  torrent  of  words. 

"But,  my  Conchita,"  gasped  Dona  Ignacia,  "I  have 
much  to  do.  Thy  father  and  his  excellency  come  in 
two  days.  And  perhaps  they  would  not  approve — be 
fore  they  are  here ! — to  go  on  the  foreign  ship !  If  Luis 
were  not  gone !  Ay  yi !  Ay  yi ! " 

"We  go,  we  go,  madre  mia!  And  his  excellency  will 
give  you  a  shawl.  I  feel  it !  I  know  it !  And  if  we  go 
now  we  disobey  no  law.  Have  they  ever  said  we  could 
not  visit  a  foreign  ship  when  they  were  not  here?  We 
are  light-headed,  irresponsible  women.  And  if  they 
should  not  not  let  us  go !  If  the  Governor  and  the  Bus- 


REZANOV  77 

sian  should  disagree !  Now  we  have  the  opportunity  for 
such  a  day  as  we  never  have  had  before.  We  should  be 
imbeciles.  \Ve  go,  madre  mia,  we  go!" 

So  it  proved.  At  a  few  minutes  before  nine  the  Senora 
Argiiello,  clad  in  her  best  black  silk  skirt  and  jacket,  a 
red  shawl  embroidered  with  yellow  draped  over  her  bust 
with  unconquerable  grace,  and  a  black  reboso  folded 
about  her  fine  proud  head,  rode  down  to  the  beach  with 
Ana  Paula  on  the  aquera  behind  and  Gertrudis  Rudi- 
sinda  on  her  arm.  The  boys  howled  on  the  corridor,  but 
the  good  senora  felt  that  she  could  not  too  liberally 
construe  the  kind  invitation  of  a  chamberlain  of  the 
Russian  Court. 

Behind  her  rode  Concha,  in  white  with  a  pink  reboso ; 
Rafaella  Sal,  Carolina  Ximeno,  Herminia  Lopez,  Delfina 
Rivera,  the  only*  other  girls  at  the  Presidio  old  enough 
to  grace  such  an  occasion;  Sturgis,  who  happened  to 
have  spent  the  night  at  the  Presidio,  Gervasio,  Santiago 
and  Lieutenant  Rivera.  Castro  had  returned  to  Mon 
terey,  Sal  was  officer  of  the  day,  and  the  other  young 
men  had  sulkily  declined  to  be  the  guests  of  a  man  who 
looked  as  haughty  as  the  Tsar  himself  and  betrayed  no 
disposition  to  recognize  in  Spain  the  first  nation  of 
Europe.  But  no  one  missed  them.  The  girls,  in  their 
flowered  muslins  and  bright  rebosos,  the  men  in  gay 
scrapes  and  embroidered  botas,  looked  a  fine  mass  of 
color  as  they  galloped  down  to  the  beach  and  laughed 
and  chattered  as  youth  must  on  so  glorious  a  morning. 
Even  Sturgis,  always  careful  to  be  as  nearly  one  with 
these  people  as  his  different  appearance  and  tempera 
ment  would  permit,  wore  clothes  of  green  linen,  a  ruf 
fled  shirt,  deer-skin  botas  and  sombrero. 

Three  of  the  ship's  canoes  awaited  the  guests,  and  as 
not  one  of  the  women  had  ever  set  foot  in  a  boat,  there 
was  a  chorus  of  shrieks.  Dona  Ignacia  murmured  an 
audible  prayer,  and  clutched  Gertrudis  Rudisinda  to 
her  breast. 

"Madre  de  Dios!  The  water!  I  cannot!"  she  mut 
tered.  But  Santiago  took  her  firmly  by  one  elbow, 


78  REZANOV 

Sturgis  by  the  other,  Davidov  caught  up  the  children 
with  a  reassuring  laugh,  and  in  a  moment  she  was  trem 
bling  in  the  middle  of  the  canoe.  Concha  had  already 
leaped  into  the  second  and  waved  a  careless  little  salu 
tation  to  the  Juno.  Her  eyes  sparkled.  Her  nostrils 
fluttered.  She  felt  indifferent  to  everything  but  the 
certain  pleasure  of  the  day.  Rezanov  was  sure  to  be 
charming.  What  mattered  the  morrow,  and  possible 
nights  of  doubt,  despair,  hatred  of  life  and  wondering 
self-contempt  ? 

Rezanov  awaited  the  canoes  in  the  prow  of  the  ship. 
He  wore  undress  uniform  and  a  cap  instead  of  the 
cocked  hat  of  ceremony  which  had  excited  their  awe.  He 
too  tingled  with  a  sense  of  youthful  gaiety  and  adven 
ture.  As  he  helped  his  guests  up  the  side  of  the  vessel, 
and  listened  to  the  delighted  laughter  of  the  girls,  saw 
the  dancing  eyes  of  even  the  haughty  and  reserved  San 
tiago,  he  also  dismissed  the  morrow  from  his  thoughts. 

As  Dona  Ignacia  was  hauled  to  the  deck,  uttering 
embarrassed  apologies  for  bringing  the  two  little  girls, 
Rezanov  protested  that  he  adored  children,  patted  their 
heads,  and  told  off  a  young  sailor  to  amuse  them. 

Four  tables  on  the  deck  were  set  with  coffee,  choco 
late,  Russian  tea,  and  strange  sweets  that  the  cook  had 
fashioned  from  ingredients  to  which  his  skilful  fingers 
had  long  been  strangers. 

Dona  Ignacia  sat  beside  the  host,  and  when  she  had 
tried  both  the  tea  and  the  coffee  and  had  demanded  the 
recipe  of  the  sweets,  he  said  casually:  "After  break 
fast  I  shall  ask  you  to  go  down  to  the  cabin  for  a  few 
moments.  I  bought  the  cargo  with  the  Juno,  and  find 
there  are  several  articles  which  I  shall  beg  as  a  great 
favor  to  present  to  my  kindest  of  hostesses  and  the  young 
girls  she  has  been  good  enough  to  bring  to  my  ship. 
Shawls  and  ells  of  cotton  and  all  that  sort  of  thing  are 
of  no  use  to  a  bachelor,  and  I  hope  you  will  rid  me  of 
some  of  them." 

Dona  Ignacia  lost  all  interest  in  the  breakfast,  and 
presently,  murmuring  an  excuse,  was  escorted  by  Langs- 


REZANOV  79 

dorff  down  to  the  cabin.  When  the  light  repast  was 
over,  Rezanov  made  a  signal  to  several  sailors  who 
awaited  commands,  and  they  sprang  to  the  anchor  and 
sails. 

"We  are  going  to  have  a  cruise,"  announced  the  host 
to  his  guests.  "The  bay  is  very  smooth,  there  is  a  fine 
breeze,  we  shall  neither  be  becalmed  nor  otherwise  the 
sport  of  inclement  waters.  I  know  that  most  of  you  have 
never  seen  this  beautiful  bay  and  that  you  will  enjoy 
its  scenery  as  much  as  I  shall." 

He  moved  to  Concha's  side  and  dropped  his  voice. 
1 '  This  is  for  you,  senorita, ' '  he  said.  ' '  You  want  change, 
variety,  and  I  have  planned  to  give  you  all  that  I  can 
in  one  day.  I  expect  you  to  be  happy." 

' '  I  shall  be, ' '  «he  said  dryly,  ' '  if  only  in  watching  a 
diplomat  get  his  way.  You  will  see  every  corner  of  our 
bay,  and  I  shall  have  the  delightful  sensation  of  doing 
something  naughty  for  which  I  cannot  be  held  respon 
sible." 

He  laughed.  "I  am  quite  willing  that  you  should  un 
derstand  me,"  he  said.  "But  it  is  true  that  I  thought 
as  much  of  you  as  of  myself." 

In  a  few  moments  the  ship  was  under  way.  Santiago 
and  Sturgis  had  gone  down  to  the  cabin  to  reassure 
Dona  Ignacia,  who  uttered  a  loud  cry  as  the  Juno  gave 
a  preliminary  lurch.  Gervasio  and  Rivera  had  opened 
their  eyes  as  Rezanov  abruptly  unfolded  his  plan,  but 
dropped  them  sleepily  before  the  delight  of  the  girls. 
After  all,  it  was  none  of  their  affair,  and  what  was  a 
bay?  If  they  requested  him,  as  a  point  of  honor,  to 
refrain  from  examining  the  battery  of  Yerba  Buena 
with  his  glass,  their  consciences  would  be  as  light  as 
their  hearts. 

As  Rezanov  stood  alone  with  Concha  in  the  prow  of 
the  ship  and  alternately  cast  softened  eyes  on  her  intense 
rapt  face,  and  shrewd  glances  on  the  ramifications  of 
the  bay,  he  congratulated  himself  upon  his  precipitate 
action  and  the  collusion  of  nature.  They  were  sailing 
east,  and  would  turn  to  the  north  in  a  moment.  The 


80  REZANOV 

mountain  range  bent  abruptly  at  the  entrance  to  the  bay, 
encircling  the  immense  sheet  of  water  in  a  chain  of 
every  altitude  and  form:  a  long  hard  undulating  line 
against  the  bright  blue  sky ;  smooth  and  dimpled  slopes, 
as  round  as  cones,  bare  but  for  the  green  of  their  grasses ; 
lofty  ridges  tapering  to  hills  in  the  curve  at  the  north 
but  with  blue  peaks  multiplying  beyond.  There  were 
dense  forests  in  deep  canons  on  the  mountainside,  bare 
and  jagged  heights,  the  graceful  sweep  of  valleys,  prom 
ontories  leaping  out  from  the  mainland  like  mammoth 
crocodiles  guarding  the  bay.  The  view  of  the  main 
waters  was  broken  by  the  largest  of  the  islands,  but  far 
away  were  the  hills  of  the  east  and  the  soft  blue  peaks 
behind.  And  over  all,  hills  and  valley  and  canon  and 
mountain,  was  a  bright  opalescent  mist.  Green,  pink, 
and  other  pale  colors  gleamed  as  behind  a  thin  layer  of 
crystal.  Where  the  sun  shone  through  a  low  white 
cloud  upon  a  distant  slope  there  might  have  been  a 
great  globe  of  iridescent  glass  illuminated  within.  The 
water  was  a  light  soft  filmy  yet  translucent  blue.  Con 
cha  gazed  with  parted  lips. 

"I  never  knew  before  how  wonderful  it  was,"  she 
murmured.  "I  have  been  taught  to  believe  that  only 
the  south  is  beautiful,  and  when  we  had  to  come  here 
again  from  Santa  Barbara  it  was  exile.  But  now  I  am 
glad  I  was  born  in  the  north." 

"I  have  watched  the  lights  on  these  hills  and  islands, 
and  what  I  could  see  of  the  fine  lines  of  the  mountains, 
ever  since  I  came,  and  were  there  but  villas  and  castles, 
these  waters  would  be  far  more  beautiful  than  the  Lake 
of  Como  or  the  Bay  of  Naples.  But  I  am  glad  to  see 
trees  again.  From  our  anchorage  I  had  but  a  bare 
glimpse  of  two  or  three.  They  seem  to  hide  from  the 
western  winds.  Are  they  so  strong,  then  ? ' ' 

"We  have  terrible  winds,  senor.  I  do  not  wonder  the 
trees  crouch  to  the  east.  But  I  must  tell  you  our  names. ' ' 
She  pointed  to  the  largest  of  the  islands,  a  great  bare 
mass  that  looked  as  had  it  been,  when  viscid,  flung  out 
in  long  folds  from  a  central  peak,  concaving  here  and 


REZANOV  81 

there  with  its  own  weight.  Its  southern  point  was  on  a 
line  with  a  point  of  mainland  far  to  the  west,  and  its 
northern,  from  their  vantage  looking  to  be  but  a  con 
tinuation  of  the  curve  of  the  mainland,  finished  an  arc 
of  almost  perfect  proportions,  whose  deep  curve  was  a 
tumbled  mass  of  hills  and  one  great  mountain.  "That 
is  Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Angeles,  and  it  opens  a  triple 
jaw,  Luis  has  told  me,  at  Point  Tiburon — you  will  soon 
see  the  straits  between.  The  big  rock  behind  us  is  Al- 
catraz,  and  farther  away  still  is  Yerba  Buena — that 
looks  like  a  camel  on  its  knees. ' ' 

But  Rezanov  was  examining  the  scene  before  him.  The 
lines  of  this  bay  within  a  bay  were  superb,  and  in  its 
wide  embrace,  slanting  from  Point  Tiburon  toward  an 
inner  point  two  jniles  opposite  was  another  island,  as 
steep  as  Alcatraz,  but  long  and  waving  of  outline,  with 
a  glimpse  of  trees  on  its  crest.  Rezanov,  while  he  lost 
nothing  of  the  picturesque  beauty  surrounding  him, 
was  more  deeply  interested  in  noting  the  many  founda 
tions,  sheltered  and  solid,  for  fortifications  that  would 
hold  these  rich  lands  against  the  fleets  of  the  world. 
Never  had  he  seen  so  many  strategic  advantages  on  one 
sheet  of  water.  The  islands  farther  south  he  had  exam 
ined  through  his  glass  from  the  deck  of  the  Juno  until 
he  knew  every  convolution  they  turned  to  the  west. 

Concha  was  directing  his  attention  to  the  tremendous 
angular  peak  rising  above  the  tumbled  hills.  "That  is 
Mount  Tamalpais — the  mountain  of  peace.  It  was  named 
by  the  Indians,  not  by  us.  Sometimes  it  is  like  a  great 
purple  shadow,  and  at  others  the  clouds  fight  about  it 
like  the  ghosts  of  big  sea-gulls. ' '  They  were  sailing  past 
the  rounded  end  of  the  western  inner  point  of  the  little 
bay.  It  was  almost  detached  from  the  bare  ridge  be 
hind  and  half  covered  with  oaks  and  willow  trees.  ' '  That 
is  Point  Sausalito.  I  have  often  looked  at  it  through  the 
glass  and  longed  for  a  merienda  in  the  deep  shade." 
She  turned  to  Rezanov  with  lips  apart.  ' '  Could  we  not 
—oh,  senor! — have  our  dinner  on  shore?" 

"It  is  only  for  you  to  select  the  spot.    We  can  sail 


82  REZANOV 

many  miles  before  it  is  time  for  dinner,  and  you  may 
find  a  place  even  more  to  your  liking.  I  fancy  we  can 
not  go  far  here.  It  looks  swampy  and  shallow.  Nothing 
could  be  less  romantic  than  to  stick  in  the  mud. ' ' 

' '  May  I  ask, ' '  said  Concha  demurely,  ' '  how  you  dare 
to  run  the  risks  of  an  unknown  sheet  of  water  ?  I  have 
heard  it  said  that  there  is  more  than  one  rock  and  shoal 
in  this  bay." 

"I  am  not  as  rash  as  I  may  appear,"  replied  Rezanov 
dryly,  but  smiling.  "In  1789  there  was  a  chart  of  this 
bay,  taken  from  a  Spanish  MSS.,  published  in  London ; 
and  I  bought  it  there  when  I  ran  up  from  the  Nadeshda 
— anchored  at  Falmouth — three  years  ago.  Davidov, 
who,  you  may  observe,  is  steering,  oblivious  to  the  charms 
of  even  Dona  Carolina,  knows  every  sounding  by  heart. " 

"Oh!"  Concha  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "The  Gov 
ernor,  too,  is  very  clever.  It  will  be  a  drawn  battle. 
Perhaps  I  shall  remain  neutral  after  all.  It  would  be 
more  amusing."  The  ship  was  turning,  and  she  waved 
her  hand  to  the  island  between  the  deep  arc  of  the  hilly 
coast.  "I  have  heard  so  much  of  the  beauty  of  that 
island,"  she  said,  "that  I  have  called  it  La  Bellissima, 
but  I  never  hoped  to  see  anything  but  the  back  of  its 
head,  from  which  the  wind  has  blown  all  the  hair.  And 
now  I  shall.  How  kind  of  you,  senor ! ' ' 

"How  easily  you  are  made  happy!"  he  said,  with  a 
sigh.  "You  look  like  a  child." 

"To-day  I  shall  be  one;  and  you  the  kind  fairy  god 
father,"  she  added,  with  some  malice.  "How  old  are 
you,  senor?" 

"Forty-two." 

"That  is  twenty-six  years  older  than  myself.  But 
your  excellency  might  pass  for  thirty-five,"  she  added 
politely.  "We  have  all  said  it.  And  now  that  you  are 
not  so  pale  you  will  soon  look  younger — and  even  more 
triumphant  than  when  you  came. ' ' 

"I  have  never  felt  so  triumphant  as  on  this  morning, 
dear  senorita.  I  had  not  hoped  to  give  you  so  much 
pleasure. ' ' 


REZANOV  83 

Her  cheeks  were  as  pink  as  her  reboso,  her  great  black 
eyes  were  dancing.  Her  hands  strained  at  the  railing. 
"I  shall  see  La  Bellissima!  La  Bellissima ! "  she  cried. 

They  rounded  the  low  broken  point  of  the  island, 
sailed  through  the  racing  currents  between  the  lower 
end  of  La  Bellissima  and  "Our  Lady  of  the  Angels," 
more  slowly  past  what  looked  to  be  a  perpendicular  for 
est.  From  water  to  crest  the  gulches  and  converging 
spurs  of  this  hillside  in  the  sea  were  a  dense  mass  of 
oaks,  bays,  underbrush;  here  and  there  a  tall  slender 
tree  with  a  bark  like  red  kid  and  a  flirting  polished  leaf, 
at  which  Concha  clapped  her  hands  as  at  sight  of  an  old 
friend  and  called  ' '  El  Madrono. ' '  It  was  a  primeval  bit 
of  nature,  but  sweet  and  silent  and  peaceful ;  there  was 
no  suggestion  either  of  gloom  or  of  discourteous  beast. 

""We  shall  have  our  dinner  here,  Excellency.  There 
on  that  little  beach;  and  afterward  we  shall  climb  to 
the  top.  See,  there  are  trails !  The  Indians  have  been 
here." 

They  stood  out  through  the  straits  between  Point  Tib- 
uron  and  the  Isle  of  the  Angels,  where  the  tide  ran 
fast.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  was  Rezanov  able  to 
form  a  definite  idea  of  the  size  and  shape  of  this  great 
natural  harbor.  To  the  south  it  extended  beyond  the 
peninsula  in  an  unbroken  sheet  for  some  forty  English 
miles.  Ten  miles  to  the  north  there  was  a  gateway  be 
tween  the  lower  hills  which  Luis  had  alluded  to  as  lead 
ing  into  the  bay  of  Saint  Pablo,  another  large  body  of 
tidewater,  but  inferior  in  depth  and  beauty  to  the  Bay 
of  San  Francisco. 

The  mist  had  dissolved.  The  greens  were  vivid  where 
the  sun  shone  on  island  and  hill.  The  woods  of  Bell 
issima,  the  groves  of  Point  Sausalito,  the  forests  in  the 
northern  canons,  deepened  to  purple  like  that  of  the 
great  bare  sweep  of  Tamalpais.  Only  the  farther  peaks 
remained  a  pale  misty  blue,  and  were  of  an  indescrib 
able  floating  delicacy. 

Concha  pointed  to  the  eastern  double  cone.  "That  is 
Monte  del  Diablo.  Once  they  say  it  spouted  fire,  but 


84  REZANOV 

that  was  long  ago,  and  all  our  volcanoes  are  dead.  But 
perhaps  not  so  long  ago.  The  Indians  tell  the  strange 
story  that  their  grandfathers  remembered  when  this 
bay  was  a  valley  covered  with  oak  trees,  and  the  rivers 
of  the  north  flowed  through  and  emptied  into  Lake 
Merced  and  a  rift  by  the  Fort.  Then  came  a  tremendous 
earthquake  and  rent  the  mountains  apart  where  you 
came  through — we  call  it  the  Mouth  of  the  Gulf  of  the 
Farallones — the  valley  sank,  the  sea  flowed  in,  only  these 
hills  that  are  islands  now  keeping  their  heads  above 
the  flood.  Perhaps  it  is  true,  for  Drake  was  close  to 
this  bay  for  a  long  while  and  never  saw  it,  and  it  would 
have  given  him  a  better  shelter  than  the  little  harbor 
he  found  a  few  miles  higher  on  the  coast.  I  believe  it 
was  not  here.  Madre  de  Dios,  I  hope  California  shakes 
no  more.  She  would — is  it  not  true,  Excellency? — be 
the  most  perfect  country  in  all  the  world  did  she  not 
have  the  devil  in  her. ' ' 

"Are  you  afraid  of  earthquakes?"  asked  Rezanov, 
who  once  more  had  transferred  his  comprehensive  gaze 
from  battery  sites  to  her  face. 

"I  cross  myself.  It  is  like  feeling  your  grave  turn 
over.  But  I  fancy  the  poor  old  earth  is  like  the  people 
on  her;  she  gets  tired  of  being  good  and  is  all  the 
naughtier  for  having  been  sober  too  long.  Don  Vincente 
Rivera  is  an  example ;  he  is  cold,  haughty,  solemn,  stern 
to  others  and  himself,  as  you  see  him;  but  once  in  a 
while — Madre  de  Dios !  The  Presidio  does  not  sleep  for 
three  nights ! ' ' 

Rezanov  laughed  heartily,  then  turned  abruptly  away. 
"Come,"  he  said.  "I  had  almost  forgotten.  Will  you 
ask  the  others  to  go  to  the  cabin,  while  I  give  orders  that 
dinner  shall  be  served  on  your  island?" 

In  the  cabin,  Concha  forgot  him  for  a  few  moments. 
Her  mother,  her  eyes  dwelling  fondly  upon  several 
shawls  she  hoped  were  intended  for  herself  alone,  was 
hushing  the  baby  to  sleep  in  the  deep  chair  of  his  ex 
cellency.  Ana  Paula  was  playing  with  an  Alaskan  doll 
she  had  appropriated  without  ceremony.  Rezanov  came 


REZANOV  85 

in  when  his  guests  were  assembled,  and  he  had  a  gift 
for  each;  curious  objects  of  Alaskan  workmanship  for 
the  men,  miniature  totem  poles  and  fur-bordered  moc 
casins  ;  but  silk  and  cotton,  linen,  shawls,  and  fine  hand 
kerchiefs  for  senora  and  maiden. 

"They  are  trifles,"  he  said,  in  response  to  an  en 
thusiastic  chorus.  "The  cargo  I  was  obliged  to  take 
over  was  a  very  large  one.  You  must  not  protest.  I 
shall  never  miss  these  things."  And  he  knew  that  he 
had  sown  the  seeds  of  a  rapacity  similar  to  that  im 
planted  in  the  worthy  bosoms  of  the  priests  when  they 
had  paid  him  their  promised  visit.  If  the  Governor 
were  insensible  to  diplomacy  he  would  have  pressure 
brought  to  bear  upon  his  official  integrity  from  more 
quarters  than  one. 

"There  are  also  many  of  the  presents  rejected  by 
the  Mikado,  somewhere,"  he  added  carelessly.  "But  I 
could  not  find  them.  They  must  have  found  their  way 
to  the  bottom  of  the  hold  during  one  of  the  storms  we 
encountered  on  our  way  from  Sitka. " 

He  certainly  looked  the  fairy  godfather,  and  quite 
impartial  as  he  distributed  his  offerings  with  a  chosen 
word  to  each;  his  memory  for  little  characteristics  was 
as  remarkable  as  for  names  and  faces.  He  had  taken 
off  his  cap  on  deck,  and  the  breeze  had  ruffled  his  thick 
fair  hair,  brought  the  blood  to  his  thin  cheeks.  The 
lines  of  his  face,  cut  by  privation  and  anxiety  and  ill 
ness,  had  almost  disappeared  with  the  renewed  elasticity 
of  the  flesh,  and  his  blue  eyes  were  wide  open,  and 
sparkling  in  sympathy  with  the  pleasure  of  his  guests 
and  the  success  of  his  own  strategy.  These  few  insig 
nificant  Spaniards  dislodged,  a  half-dozen  forts  in  this 
harbor,  and  the  combined  navies  of  the  world  might  be 
defied;  while  a  great  chain  of  hungry  settlements  fat 
tened  and  prospered  exceedingly  on  the  beneficence  of 
the  most  fertile  land  in  all  the  Americas. 


xn 

THE  eastern  mountains  looked  very  close  from  the  crest 
of  La  Bellissima  and  of  a  singular  transparency  and  va 
riety  of  hue.  It  was  as  if  the  white  masses  of  cloud 
sailing  low  overhead  flung  down  great  splashes  of  color 
from  prismatic  stores  stolen  from  the  sun.  There  was 
a  vivid  pale  green  on  the  long  sweep  of  a  rounding  slope, 
deep  violet  and  pale  purple  in  dimple  and  hollow,  red 
showing  through  green  on  a  tongue  of  land  running 
down  from  the  north ;  and  on  the  lower  ridges  and  little 
islands,  pale  and  dark  blue,  and  the  most  exquisite 
fields  of  lavender.  This  last  tint  was  reflected  in  the 
water  immediately  below  the  bridge,  and  farther  out 
there  were  lakelets  of  pale  green,  as  if  the  islands,  too, 
had  the  power  to  mirror  themselves  when  the  sea  itself 
was  glass. 

Santiago,  Davidov,  Carolina  Ximeno,  Delfina  Rivera, 
Concha  and  Rezanov,  had  climbed  to  the  ridge.  The 
other  young  people  had  given  out  halfway  up  the  steep 
and  tangled  ascent  and  returned  to  the  beach.  Dona 
Ignacia  immediately  after  dinner  had  frankly  asked  her 
host  for  the  hospitality  of  his  stateroom.  She  and  her 
little  ones  must  have  their  siesta,  and  the  good  lady  was 
convinced  that  so  high  and  mighty  a  personage  as  the 
Russian  Chamberlain  was  all  the  chaperon  the  proprie 
ties  demanded. 

Four  of  the  party  strayed  along  the  crest  in  search  of 
the  first  wild  pansies.  Rezanov  and  Concha  looked  under 
the  sloping  roof  of  brittle  leaves  into  dim  falling  vistas, 
arches,  arbors,  caverns,  a  forest  in  miniature  with  nat 
ural  terraces  breaking  the  precipitous  wall  of  the  island. 

"I  should  like  to  live  here,"  said  Concha  definitely. 

"It  would  make  a  fine  estate  for  summer  life — or 

86 


REZANOV  87 

for  a  honeymoon."  He  smiled  down  upon  his  compan 
ion,  who  stood  very  tall  and  straight  and  proud  beside 
him.  "If  you  conclude  to  marry  your  little  Bostonian 
no  doubt  he  will  buy  it  for  you,"  he  said. 

If  he  had  hoped  to  see  a  look  of  blank  dismay  after 
his  hours  of  devotion  he  was  disappointed.  She  made  a 
little  face. 

"  I  do  not  think  I  could  stand  a  desert  island  with  the 
good  Weeliam.  For  that  I  should  prefer  one  of  my  own 
sort — Ignacio,  or  Fernando.  Better  still,  I  could  come 
here  and  be  a  hermit." 

"A  hermit?" 

"In  some  ways  that  would  suit  me  very  well.  All 
human  beings  become  tiresome,  I  find.  I  shall  have  a 
little  hut  just  below  the  crest  where  I  can  look  from  my 
window  right  into  the  woods  that  are  so  quiet  and  green 
and  beautiful.  That  is  a  thought  that  has  always  fas 
cinated  me.  And  when  I  walk  on  the  crest  I  can  see  all 
the  beauty  of  mountain  and  bay.  What  more  could  I 
want?  What  more  have  you  in  your  world  when  you 
know  it  too  well,  senor?" 

"Nothing;  but  you  might  tire,  too,  of  this." 

"What  of  it?  It  would  be  the  gentle  sad  ennui  of 
peace,  not  of  disillusion.  I  think  you  have  suffered  much 
disillusion,  senor.  How  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  all 
you  know  of  life!" 

"God  forbid.  And  do  not  remind  me  of  ennui  and 
disillusions.  I  have  forgotten  both  in  California.  Per 
haps,  after  all,  I  shall  not  return  to  St.  Petersburg. 
There  is  a  vast  empire  here " 

"But  it  is  not  yours  or  Russia's  to  rule,  Excellency," 
she  interrupted  him  softly. 

He  did  not  color  nor  start,  but  met  her  eyes  with  his 
deep  amused  glance.  "I,  too,  can  dream,  senoritr..  Of 
a  great  and  wonderful  kingdom — that  never  will  exist, 
perhaps.  I  have  always  been  called  a  dreamer,  but  the 
habit  has  grown  since  I  came  to  this  lovely  unreal  land 
of  yours." 


88  REZANOV 

"Have  you  the  intention  to  take  it  from  us,  Excel 
lency?"  she  asked  quietly. 

' '  Would  you  betray  me  if  you  thought  I  had  ? ' ' 

Her  eyes  responded  for  a  moment  to  the  magnetism 
of  his,  and  then  she  drew  herself  up. 

"No,  senor,  I  could  not  betray  a  man  who  had  been 
our  guest,  and  Spain  needs  no  assistance  from  a  weak 
girl  to  hold  her  own  against  Russia." 

"Well  said !  I  kiss  your  hands,  as  they  say  in  Vienna. 
But  we  must  sail  again.  I  told  them  to  be  ready  at 
three  o'clock." 

Dalliance  with  the  most  alluring  girl  he  had  ever 
known  was  all  very  well,  but  the  day 's  work  was  not  yet 
done.  When  they  returned  to  the  ship  he  deliberately 
engaged  all  the  Spaniards  in  a  game  of  cards,  ordered 
cigarettes  and  a  bowl  of  punch  for  their  refreshment, 
and  then  the  Juno  steered  south. 

They  sailed  swiftly  past  Nuestra  Senorita  de  los  An 
geles  and  the  eastern  side  of  Alcatraz,  Rezanov  sweeping 
every  inch  with  his  glass ;  more  slowly  past  the  peninsula 
where  it  came  down  in  a  succession  of  rough  hills  al 
most  in  a  straight  line  from  the  Presidio,  ascending  to 
a  high  outpost  of  solid  rock,  whence  it  turned  abruptly 
to  the  south  in  a  waving  line  of  steep  irregular  cliffs, 
harsh,  barren,  intersected  with  gullies.  Then  the  land 
became  suddenly  as  flat  as  the  sea,  save  for  the  shifting 
dunes,  the  desert  porch  of  the  great  fertile  valley  hidden 
from  the  water  by  the  waves  of  sand,  but  indicated  by 
its  rampart  of  mountains.  The  shallow  water  curved 
abruptly  inward  between  the  rocky  mass  on  the  right 
and  a  gentler  incline  and  point  two  miles  below.  At  its 
head  was  the  "Battery  of  Yerba  Buena,"  facing  the 
island  from  which  it  took  its  name.  Rezanov  scrupu 
lously  kept  his  word  and  did  not  raise  his  glass,  but  one 
contemptuous  glance  satisfied  his  curiosity.  His  eye 
rolled  over  the  steep  hills  that  were  designed  to  bristle 
with  forts,  and,  as  sometimes  happened,  when  he  spoke 
again  to  Concha,  whom  he  kept  close  to  his  side,  for 


REZANOV  89 

the  other  girls  bored  him,  his  words  did  not  express 
the  workings  of  his  mind. 

"Athens  has  no  finer  site  than  this,"  he  said.  "I 
should  like  to  see  a  white  marble  city  on  these  hills,  and 
on  that  plain,  when  all  the  sand  dunes  are  leveled.  Not 
in  our  time,  perhaps!  But,  as  I  told  you,  I  have  sur 
rendered  myself  to  the  habit  of  dreaming. ' ' 

Concha  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  made  no  reply 
at  the  moment.  As  they  sailed  toward  the  east  before 
turning  south  again,  she  pointed  across  the  great  silvery 
sheet  of  water  melting  into  the  misty  southern  horizon, 
to  a  high  ridge  of  mountains  that  looked  to  be  a  con 
tinuation  of  the  San  Bruno  range  behind  the  Mission, 
but  slanting  farther  west  with  the  coast  line. 

''Those  are  behind  our  rancho,  senor — Rancho  El 
Pilar,  or  Las  Pulgas,  as  some  prefer.  Perhaps  my  father 
will  take  you  there.  I  hope  so,  for  we  love  to  go,  and 
may  not  too  often ;  my  father  is  very  busy  here.  He  is 
one  of  the  few  that  has  received  a  large  grant  of  land, 
and  it  is  because  the  clergy  love  him  so  much  they  op 
pose  his  wish  in  nothing.  Do  you  see  those  sharp  points 
against  the  sky?  They  are  the  tops  of  lofty  trees,  like 
the  masts  of  giant  ships,  and  with  many  rigid  arms 
spiked  like  the  pines.  You  saw  a  few  of  them  in  the 
hollow  below  Tamalpais,  but  up  on  those  mountains 
there  are  miles  and  miles  of  mighty  forests.  No  white 
man  has  ever  penetrated  them,  nor  ever  will,  perhaps. 
We  have  no  use  for  them,  and  even  if  you  made  this 
your  kingdom,  senor,  I  suppose  not  many  would  come 
with  you.  Far,  far  down  where  the  water  stops  are  the 
Mission  of  Santa  Clara  and  the  pueblo  of  San  Jose ;  but 
I  have  heard  you  cannot  approach  within  many  miles 
of  the  land  in  a  boat. ' ' 

When  they  had  sailed  south  for  a  few  moments  the 
boat  came  about  abruptly.  Concha  laughed.  "I  had 
forgotten  the  chart.  I  rather  hoped  you  would  run  on 
a  shoal." 

But  as  they  approached  the  cove  of  Yerba  Buena 
again  she  caught  his  arm  suddenly,  unconscious  of  the 


90  REZANOV 

ict,  and  the  little  dancing  lights  of  humor  in  her  eyes 
went  out.  ' '  Your  white  city,  senor !  Ay,  Dios !  what  a 
city  of  dreams  that  can  never  come  true ! ' ' 

The  soft  white  fog  that  sometimes,  even  at  this  sea 
son,  came  in  from  the  sea,  was  rolling  over  the  hills 
between  the  Battery  and  the  Presidio,  wreathing  about 
the  rocky  heights  and  slopes.  It  broke  into  domes  and 
cupolas,  spires  and  minarets.  Great  waves  rolled  over 
the  sand  dunes  and  beat  upon  the  cliffs  with  the  phan 
toms  clinging  to  its  sides.  Then  the  sun  struggled 
through;  for  a  moment  the  ghostly  city  was  iridescent 
with  a  thousand  colors.  The  sun  conquered,  the  mist 
shimmered  into  sunlight,  and  once  more  the  hills  were 
gray  and  bare. 

Rezanov  laughed,  but  his  eyes  glowed  down  upon  her. 
1 '  I  am  not  sure  it  was  there, ' '  he  said.  ' '  I  have  an  idea 
your  imagination  and  touch  acted  as  a  sort  of  enchant 
er  's  wand.  The  others  evidently  saw  nothing. ' ' 

"The  others  saw  only  fog  and  shivered.  But  it  was 
there,  senor!  We  have  had  a  vision.  A  Russian  city! 
Ay,yi!" 

But  Rezanov  had  forgotten  the  city.  Her  reboso  had 
fallen  and  a  strand  of  her  hair  blew  across  his  face. 
His  lips  caught  it  and  his  eyes  burned.  They  rounded 
a  headland  and  the  world  looked  green  and  young. 

' '  Concha ! ' '  he  whispered. 

Her  eyes  flashed  and  melted,  she  lifted  her  chin ;  then 
burst  into  a  merry  ripple  of  laughter. 

"Senor!"  she  said,  "if  you  make  love  to  me,  I  shall 
have  to  compare  you  with  many  others,  and  I  might  not 
like  the  Russian  fashion.  You  are  much  better  as  you 
are — very  grand  seigneur,  iron-handed  and  absolute, 
haughty  and  arrogant,  but  the  most  charming  person  in 
the  world,  with  ends  to  gain,  even  from  such  humble 
folk  as  a  handful  of  stranded  Californians.  But  to  sigh ! 
to  languish  with  the  eye !  to  sing  at  the  grating !  I  fear 
that  the  lightest  headed  of  the  caballeros  you  despise 
could  transcend  you  in  all." 

"Very  likely!    I  have  not  the  least  intention  of  sigh- 


REZANOV  91 

ing  or  languishing  or  singing  at  gratings.  But  if  we 
were  alone  I  certainly  should  kiss  you." 

But  her  eyes  did  not  melt  again  at  the  vision.  She 
flushed  hotly  with  annoyance.  "I  am  a  child  to  you! 
Were  it  not  that  I  have  read  a  few  books,  you  would 
find  me  but  a  year  older  than  Ana  Paula.  Well!  Re 
gard  me  as  a  child  and  do  not  attempt  to  flirt  with  me 
again.  Shall  it  be  so?" 

"As  you  wish!"  Rezanov  looked  at  her  half  in  re 
sentment,  half  wistfully,  then  shrugged  his  shoulders, 
and  called  to  Davidov  to  steer  for  the  anchorage.  She 
was  quite  right;  and  on  the  whole  he  was  grateful  to 
her. 


XIII 

"CONCHA,"  said  Sturgis  abruptly,  "will  you  marry 
me?" 

Concha,  who  was  sitting  in  the  shade  of  the  rose  vines 
on  the  corridor  making  a  dress  for  Gertrudis  Rudisinda, 
ran  the  needle  into  her  finger. 

"Madre  de  Dios!"  she  cried  angrily.  "Who  would 
have  expected  such  foolish  words  from  you?  and  now  I 
have  pricked  my  finger  and  stained  the  little  frock.  It 
will  have  to  be  washed  before  worn,  and  is  never  so 
pretty  after." 

"I  am  sorry,"  said  Sturgis  humbly.  "But  it  seems 
to  me  that  if  a  man  wishes  to  marry  a  maid  he  should 
ask  her  in  a  straightforward  manner,  with  no  prelim 
inary  of  sighs  and  hints  and  serenades — and  all  sorts  of 
insincere  stage  play." 

"He  should  at  least  address  her  parents  first." 

"True.  I  was  wholly  the  American  for  the  moment. 
May  I  speak  to  Don  Jose  and  Dona  Ignacia,  Concha?" 

* '  How  can  I  prevent  ?  No,  I  will  not  coquet  with  you, 
Weeliam.  But  I  am  angry  that  you  have  thought  of 
such  nonsense.  Such  friends  we  were !  We  have  talked 
and  read  together  by  the  hour,  and  my  parents  have 
thought  no  more  of  it  than  it  had  been  Santiago.  There ! 
You  have  a  new  book  in  your  pocket.  Why  did  you 
not  read  it  to  me  instead  of  making  love?  Let  me  see 
it." 

"I  brought  it  to  read  later  if  you  wished,  but  I  came 
to  ask  you  to  marry  me  and  to  receive  your  answer.  I 
never  expected  to  ask  you — but — lately — things  have 
changed — life  seems,  somehow,  more  real.  The  thought 
of  losing  you  has  suddenly  become  terrible." 

"You  have  been  drinking  Russian  tea,"  said  Concha, 

92 


REZANOV  93 

stitching  quietly  but  flashing  him  a  glance  of  amusement, 
not  wholly  without  malice. 

"It  is  true,"  he  replied.  "I  suppose  I  never  really 
believed  you  would  marry  Raimundo  or  Ignacio  or  any 
of  the  caballeros.  They  think  and  talk  of  nothing  but 
horse-racing,  gambling,  cock-fighting,  love  and  cigaritos. 
I  thought  of  you  always  here,  where  at  least  I  could  look 
at  you  or  read  with  you.  But  one  must  admit  that  this 
Russian  is  no  ordinary  man.  I  hate  him,  yet  like  him 
more  than  any  I  have  ever  met.  Last  night  I  stayed  to 
punch  with  him,  and  we  talked  English  for  an  hour. 
That  is  to  say,  he  did ;  I  could  have  listened  to  him  till 
morning.  Langsdorff  says  that  he  has  the  greatest 
possible  command  of  his  native  tongue,  but  he  speaks 
English  well  enough.  I  wish  I  could  despise  him,  but  I 
do  not  believe  I  even  hate  him." 

"Well?"  demanded  Concha.  She  kept  her  eyes  on 
her  work  (and  the  delight  that  rose  in  her  breast  from 
her  voice). 

"Well?" 

' '  Why  should  you  hate  him  ? ' ' 

"Do  you  ask  me  that,  Concha,  when  he  makes  a 
fence  of  himself  about  you,  and  his  fine  eyes — practised 
is  nearer  the  mark — look  at  no  one  else  ? ' ' 

"But  why  should  that  cause  you  jealousy?  He  is  a 
man  of  the  world,  accustomed  to  make  himself  agree 
able,  and  I  am  the  daughter  of  the  Commandante. ' ' 

"He  is  more  in  love  with  you  than  he  knows." 

"Do  you  think  so,  Weeliam?"  Still  her  voice  was 
innocent  and  even,  although  the  color  rose  above  the 
inner  commotion.  "But  even  so,  what  of  it?  Have  not 
many  loved  me  ?  Am  I  to  be  won  by  the  first  stranger  ? ' ' 

"I  do  not  know." 

The  tumult  in  Concha  turned  to  wrath,  and  she  lifted 
flashing  eyes  to  his  moody  face.  "Do  you  presume  to 
say  you  are  jealous  because  you  think  I  love  him — a 
stranger  I  have  known  but  a  week — who  looks  upon  me 

as  a  child — who  has  never — never  thought "  But 

her  dignity,  flying  to  the  rescue,  assumed  control.  Her 


94  REZANOV 

upper  lip  curled,  tier  body  stiffened  for  a  moment,  and 
she  went  on  with  her  stitching.  ' '  You  deserve  I  should 
rap  your  silly  little  skull  with  my  thimble.  You  are 
no  better  than  Ignacio  and  Fernando.  Such  scenes  as 
I  have  had  with  them!  They  wanted  to  fight  the  Rus 
sian  !  How  he  would  laugh  at  them !  I  have  threatened 
they  shall  both  be  sent  to  San  Diego  if  there  is  any  more 
nonsense."  Then  curiosity  overcame  her.  "You  never 
had  the  least,  least  reason  to  think  I  would  marry  you, 
and  now,  according  to  your  own  words,  you  think  you 
have  less.  Then  why,  pray,  did  you  address  me  ? " 

"Because  I  am  a  man,  I  suppose.  I  could  not  sit 
tamely  down  and  see  you  go. ' ' 

She  looked  at  him  with  a  slight  access  of  interest.  A 
man?  Perhaps  he  was,  after  all.  And  his  well-bred 
bony  face  looked  very  determined,  albeit  the  eyes  were 
wistful.  Suddenly  she  felt  sorry  for  him;  and  she  had 
never  experienced  a  pang  of  sympathy  for  a  suitor  be 
fore.  She  leaned  forward  and  patted  his  hand. 

"I  cannot  marry  you,  dear  Weeliam,"  she  said,  and 
never  had  he  seen  her  so  sweet  and  adorable,  although 
he  noted  with  a  pang  that  her  mouth  was  already  drawn 
with  a  firmer  line.  "But  what  matter?  I  shall  never 
marry  at  all.  For  many  years — forty,  fifty  perhaps — 
I  shall  sit  here  on  the  veranda,  and  you  shall  read  to 
me." 

And  then  she  shivered  violently.  But  she  set  her 
mouth  until  it  was  almost  straight,  and  picked  up  the 
little  dress.  "Not  that,  perhaps,"  she  said  quietly  in  a 
moment.  "I  sometimes  think  I  should  like  to  be  a  nun, 
that,  after  all,  it  is  my  vocation.  Not  a  cloistered  one, 
for  that  is  but  a  selfish  life.  But  to  teach,  to  do  good, 
to  forget  myself.  There  are  no  convents  in  California, 
but  I  could  join  the  Third  Order  of  the  Franciscans,  and 
wear  the  gray  habit,  and  be  set  aside  by  the  world  as 
one  that  only  lived  to  make  it  a  little  better.  To  forget 
oneself !  That,  after  all,  may  be  the  secret  of  happiness. 
I  envy  none  of  my  friends  that  are  married.  They 
have  the  dear  children,  it  is  true.  But  the  children  grow 


REZANOV  95 

up  and  go  away,  and  then  one  is  fat  and  eats  many 
dulces  and  the  siesta  grows  longer  and  longer  and  the 
face  very  brown.  That  is  life  in  California.  I  should 
prefer  to  work  and  pray,  and" — with  a  flash  of  insight 
that  made  her  drop  her  work  again  and  stare  through 
the  rose- vines — "to  dream  always  of  some  beautiful 
thing  that  youth  promised  but  never  gave,  and  that  given 
might  have  ended  in  dull  routine  and  a  brain  so  choked 
with  little  things  that  memory  too  held  nothing  else." 

"But,  Concha,"  cried  Sturgis  eagerly,  "I  could  give 
you  far  better  than  that.  I  could  take  you  away  from 
here — to  Boston,  to  Europe.  You  should  see — live  your 
life — in  the  great  cities  you  have  dreamed  of — that  you 
hardly  believe  in — were  made  to  enjoy.  I  have  told  you 
of  the  theater,  the  opera — you  should  go  to  the  finest  in 
the  world.  You  should  wear  the  most  beautiful  gowns 

and  jewels,  go  to  courts,  see  the  great  works  of  art 

I  am  not  trying  to  bribe  you,"  he  stammered,  flushing 
miserably.  "God  forbid  that  I  should  stoop  to  any 
thing  as  mean  as  that.  But  it  all  rushed  upon  me  sud 
denly  that  I  could  give  you  so  much  that  you  were  made 
for,  with  this  worthless  money  of  mine.  And  what  hap 
piness  to  be  in  Europe  with  you — what — what " 

His  voice  trembled  and  broke,  and  he  dared  not  look 
at  her.  Again  she  stared  through  the  vines.  A  splen 
did  and  thrilling  panorama  rose  beyor  1  them,  her  bosom 
heaved,  her  lips  parted.  She  saw  herself  in  it,  and  not 
alone.  And  not,  alas,  with  the  honest  youth  whose  words 
had  inspired  it.  In  a  moment  she  shook  her  head  and 
turned  her  kind  eyes  on  the  flushed  averted  face  of  her 
suitor. 

"I  shall  never  see  Europe,"  she  said  gently,  "and  I 
shall  never  marry." 

' '  Not  if  this  Russian  asks  you  ? ' '  cried  Sturgis,  in  his 
jealous  misery. 

But  Concha's  anger  did  not  rise  again.  "He  has  no 
intention  of  asking  a  little  California  girl  to  share  the 
honors  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  careers  in  Europe," 
she  said  calmly.  ' '  Set  your  mind  at  rest.  He  has  paid 


96  REZANOV 

me  no  more  attention  than  is  due  my  position  as  the 
daughter  of  the  Commandante,  and  perhaps  of  La  Fa- 
vorita.  If  I  flirt  a  little  and  he  flirts  in  response,  that 
is  nothing.  Is  he  not  then  a  man?  But  he  will  forget 
me  in  a  month.  The  world,  his  world,  is  full  of  pretty 
girls." 

"A  week  ago  you  would  not  have  said  that,"  said 
Sturgis  shrewdly.  ' '  There  has  been  nothing  in  your  life 
to  make  you  so  humble." 

"I  cannot  explain,  but  he  seems  to  have  brought  the 
great  world  with  him.  I  know,  I  understand  so  many 
things  that  I  had  not  dreamed  of  a  week  ago.  A  week ! 
Madre  de  Dios!" 

And  Sturgis,  who  after  all  was  a  gallant  gentleman, 
made  no  comment. 


XIV 

GOVERNOR  ARRILLAGA,  Commandante  Argiiello,  and 
Chamberlain  Rezanov  sat  in  the  familiar  sala  at  the 
Presidio  content  in  body  after  a  culinary  achievement 
worthy  of  Padre  Landaeta,  but  perturbed  and  alert  of 
mind.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  two  Calif ornian  digni 
taries  in  the  morning,  Rezanov  had  sent  Davidov  and 
Langsdorff  on  shore  to  assure  them  of  his  gratitude  and 
deep  appreciation  of  the  hospitality  shown  himself,  his 
officers  and  men.  The  Governor  had  replied  with  a  ful 
some  apology  for  not  repairing  at  once  to  the  Juno 
to  welcome  his  distinguished  guest  in  person,  and,  plead 
ing  his  age  and  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  Eng 
lish  miles  he  had  ridden  from  Monterey,  begged  him  as 
a  younger  man  to  waive  informality,  and  dine  at  the 
house  of  the  Commandante  that  very  day.  Rezanov  had 
complied  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  now  he  was  alone 
with  the  men  who  held  his  fate  in  their  hands.  The 
dark  worn  rugged  face  of  Don  Jose,  who  had  been  skil 
fully  prepared  by  his  oldest  daughter  to  think  well  of 
the  Russian,  beamed  with  good-will  and  interest,  in 
spite  of  lingering  doubts;  but  the  lank  wiry  figure  of 
the  Governor,  who  was  as  dignified  as  only  a  blond 
Spaniard  can  be,  was  fairly  rigid  with  the  severe  for 
mality  he  reserved  for  occasions  of  ceremony — being  a 
gentleman  who  loved  good  company  and  cheer — and  his 
sharp  gray  eyes  were  almost  shut  in  the  effort  to  pene 
trate  the  designs  of  this  deputy,  this  symbol,  this  index 
in  cipher,  of  a  dreaded  race.  Rezanov  smoked  calmly, 
made  himself  comfortable  on  the  slippery  horse-hair 
chair,  though  with  no  loss  of  dignity,  and  beat  about 
the  bush  with  the  others  until  the  Governor  betrayed 
himself  at  last  by  a  chance  remark : 

97 


98  REZANOV 

"What  you  say  of  the  neighborly  instincts  of  the  'Rus 
sian  colonists  for  the  Spanish  on  this  coast  interests 
me  deeply,  Excellency,  but  if  Russia  is  at  war  with 
Spain— 

' '  Russia  is  not  at  war  with  Spain, ' '  said  Rezanov,  with 
a  flash  of  amusement  in  his  half-closed  eyes.  ' '  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  is  encamped  about  halfway  between  the  two 
countries.  They  could  not  get  at  each  other  if  they 
wished.  While  that  man  is  at  large,  Europe  will  be  at 
war  with  him,  no  two  nations  with  each  other. ' ' 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  Arrillaga.  "That  is  a  manner  of 
reasoning  that  had  not  occurred  to  me." 

The  Commandante  had  spat  at  the  mention  of  the 
usurper's  name  and  muttered  "Chinchosa!"  and  Reza 
nov,  recalling  his  first  conversation  with  Concha,  looked 
into  the  honest  eyes  of  the  monarchist  with  a  direct 
and  hearty  sympathy. 

"No  better  epithet  for  him,"  he  said.  "And  the 
sooner  Europe  combines  to  get  rid  of  him  the  better. 
But  until  it  does,  count  upon  a  common  grievance  to 
unite  your  country  and  mine." 

"Good!"  muttered  the  Governor.  "Good!  I  am 
glad  that  nightmare  has  lifted  its  bat's  wings  from  our 
poor  California.  Captain  0 'Cain's  raid  two  years  ago 
made  me  apprehensive,  for  he  took  away  some  eleven 
hundred  of  our  otter  skins  and  his  hunters  were  Aleu 
tians — subjects  of  the  Tsar.  A  negro  that  deserted 
gave  the  information  that  they  were  furnished  the  Bos- 
tonian  by  the  chief  manager  of  your  Company — Baran- 
hov — whose  reputation  we  know  well  enough! — for  the 
deliberate  purpose  of  raiding  our  coast." 

Rezanov  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  replied  indif 
ferently  :  "I  will  ask  Baranhov  when  I  return  to  Sitka, 
and  write  you  the  particulars.  It  is  more  likely  that  the 
Aleutians  were  deserters.  This  O'Cain  would  not  be 
the  first  shrewd  Bostonian  to  tempt  them,  for  they  are 
admirable  hunters  and  ready  for  any  change.  They 
make  a  greater  demand  upon  the  Company  for  variety 
of  diet  than  we  are  always  prepared  to  meet,  so  many 


REZANOV  99 

are  the  difficulties  of  transportation  across  Siberia. 
When,  therefore,  the  time  arrived  that  I  could  continue 
my  voyage,  I  determined  to  come  here  and  see  if  some 
arrangement  could  not  be  made  for  a  bi-yearly  exchange 
of  commodities.  "We  need  farinaceous  stuffs  of  every 
sort.  I  will  not  pay  so  poor  a  compliment  to  your 
knowledge  of  the  northern  settlements  as  to  enlarge  upon 
the  advantages  California  would  reap  from  such  a 
treaty." 

The  Governor,  who  had  permitted  himself  to  touch  the 
back  of  his  chair  after  the  dispersal  of  the  war  cloud, 
stiffened  again.  "Ah!"  he  said.  "Ah!"  He  looked 
significantly  at  the  Commandante,  who  nodded.  "You 
come  on  a  semi-official  mission,  after  all,  then?" 

"It  is  entirely,  my  own  idea,"  said  Rezanov  carelessly. 
* '  The  young  Tsar  is  too  much  occupied  with  Bonaparte 
to  give  more  than  a  passing  thought  to  his  colonies. 
But  I  have  a  free  hand.  Can  I  arrange  the  preliminaries 
of  a  treaty,  I  have  only  to  return  to  St.  Petersburg  to 
receive  his  signature  and  highest  approval.  It  would 
be  a  great  feather  in  my  cap,  I  can  assure  your  excel 
lencies,"  he  added,  with  a  quick  human  glance  and  a 
sudden  curve  of  his  somewhat  cynical  mouth. 

"Urn! "said  the  Governor.    "Urn!" 

But  Argiiello  's  stern  face  had  further  relaxed.  After 
all,  he  was  but  eleven  years  older  than  the  Russian,  and, 
although  early  struggles  and  heavy  responsibilities  and 
many  disappointments  had  deprived  life  of  much  of  its 
early  savor,  what  was  left  of  youth  in  him  responded 
to  the  ambition  he  divined  in  this  interesting  stranger. 
Moreover,  the  idea  of  a  friendly  bond  with  another  race 
on  the  lonely  coast  of  the  Pacific  appealed  to  him  irre 
sistibly.  He  turned  eagerly  to  the  Governor. 

"It  is  a  fine  idea,  Excellency.  We  need  much  that 
they  have,  and  it  pleases  me  to  think  we  should  be  able 
to  supply  the  wants  of  others.  Fancy  anyone  wanting 
aught  of  California,  except  hides,  to  be  sure.  I  did  not 
think  our  existence  was  known  save  to  an  occasional 
British  or  Boston  skipper.  It  is  true  we  are  here  only 


100  REZANOV 

to  Christianize  savages,  but  even  they  have  need  of 
much  that  cannot  be  manufactured  in  this  God-forsaken 
land.  And  we  ourselves  could  be  more  comfortable — 
God  in  heaven,  yes!  It  is  well  to  think  it  over,  Excel 
lency.  Who  knows? — we  might  have  a  trip  to  the 
north  once  in  a  while.  Life  is  more  excellent  with  some 
thing  to  look  forward  to." 

"You  should  have  a  royal  welcome.  Baranhov  is  the 
most  hospitable  man  in  Russia,  and  I  might  have  the 
happiness  to  be  there  myself.  I  see,  by  the  way,  that 
you  have  not  engaged  in  shipbuilding.  I  need  not  say 
that  we  should  supply  the  ships  of  commerce,  with  no 
diminution  of  your  profits.  We  build  at  Okhotsk,  Petro- 
paulovski,  Kadiak,  and  Sitka.  Moreover,  as  the  Bos- 
tonians  visit  us  frequently,  and  as  your  laws  prohibit 
you  from  trading  with  them,  we  would  see  that  you  al 
ways  got  such  of  their  commodities  as  you  needed.  They 
come  to  us  for  furs,  and  generally  bring  much  for  which 
we  have  no  use.  Captain  D  'Wolf,  from  whom  I  bought 
the  Juno,  had  a  cargo  I  was  forced  to  take  over.  I  un 
loaded  what  was  needed  at  Sitka,  but  as  there  was  no 
boat  going  for  some  months  to  the  other  islands,  I 
brought  the  rest  with  me,  and  you  are  welcome  to  it,  if 
in  exchange  you  will  ballast  the  Juno  with  samples  of 
your  agricultural  products;  while  the  treaty  is  pending, 
I  can  experiment  in  our  colonies  and  make  sure  which 
are  the  most  adaptable  to  the  market." 

' '  Urn ! "  said  the  Governor.    ' '  Urn ! " 

Rezanov  did  not  remove  his  cool  direct  gaze  from 
the  snapping  eyes  opposite. 

"I  have  not  the  least  objection  to  making  a  trade  that 
would  fill  my  promuschleniki  with  joy ;  but  that  was  by 
no  means  the  first  object  of  my  voyage ;  which  was  partly 
inspired  by  a  desire  to  see  as  much  of  this  globe  as  a 
man  may  in  one  short  life,  partly  to  arrange  a  treaty 
that  would  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  both  colonies  and 
greatly  redound  to  my  own  glory.  I  make  no  pretence 
of  being  disinterested.  I  look  forward  to  a  career  of 


REZANOV  101 

ever  increasing  influence  and  power  in  St.  Petersburg, 
and  I  wish  to  take  back  as  many  credits  as  possible." 

"I  understand,  I  understand!"  The  Governor  rested 
his  lame  back  once  more.  "Your  ambition  is  the  more 
laudable,  Excellency,  since  you  have  achieved  so  much 
already.  I  am  not  one  to  balk  the  honest  ambition  of 
any  man,  particularly  when  he  does  me  the  honor  to 
take  me  into  his  confidence.  I  like  this  suggested  meas 
ure.  I  like  it  much.  I  believe  it  would  redound  to  our 
mutual  benefit  and  reputation.  Is  it  not  so,  Jose?" 

The  Commandante  nodded  vigorously.  ' '  I  am  sure  of 
it!  I  am  sure  of  it!  I  like  it — much,  much." 

"I  will  write  at  once  to  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico  and 
ask  that  he  lay  the  matter  before  the  Cabinet  and  King. 
Without  that  high  authority  we  can  do  nothing.  But  I 
see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  issue  when  we,  who  know 
the  wants  and  needs  of  California,  approve  and  desire. 
"We  are  doomed  to  failure  in  this  unwieldy  land  of 
worthless  savages,  but  it  is  the  business  of  the  wretched 
servants  of  a  glorious  monarch  to  do  the  best  they  can." 

Rezanov  had  an  inspiration.  ' '  You  might  remind  the 
viceroy  that  Spain  and  the  United  States  of  America 
have  been  on  the  verge  of  war  for  years,  and  suggest 
the  benefit  of  an  alliance  with  Russia  in  the  case  of  the 
new  country  taking  advantage  of  the  situation  in  Eu 
rope  to  extend  its  western  boundaries " 

Arrillaga  had  bounced  to  his  feet,  his  small  eyes  in 
jected  and  blazing.  "Those  damned  Bostonians!"  he 
shouted.  "I  distrusted  them  years  ago.  They  have  too 
much  calculation  in  their  bluntness.  They  cheated  us, 
sold  us  short,  traded  under  my  very  nose,  stole  our 
otters,  until  I  ordered  them  never  to  drop  an  anchor  in 
California  waters  again.  If  their  ridiculous  upstart 
government  dares  to  cast  its  eyes  on  California  we  shall 
know  how  to  meet  them — the  sooner  they  march  on  Mex 
ico  and  lose  their  conceit  the  better.  How  they  do 
brag !  Faugh !  It  is  sickening.  I  shall  remember  all 
you  say,  Excellency,  and  thank  you  for  the  hint." 

Rezanov  rose,  and  the  Commandante  solemnly  kissed 


102  REZANOV 

him  on  either  cheek.  ' '  Governor  Arrillaga  is  my  guest, 
Excellency, ' '  he  said.  ' '  I  beg  that  you  will  dine  with  us 
daily — unofficially — that  you  will  regard  California  as 
your  own  kingdom,  and  come  and  go  at  your  pleasure. 
And  my  daughter  begs  me  to  remind  you  and  your 
young  officers  that  there  will  be  informal  dancing  every 
night." 

"So  far  so  good,"  thought  Rezanov,  as  he  mounted 
his  horse  to  return  to  the  Juno.  "But  what  of  my 
cargo?  I  fancy  there  will  be  more  difficulty  in  that 
quarter." 


XV 

THE  Chamberlain  was  in  a  towering  bad  humor.  As  he 
made  his  appearance  at  least  two  hours  earlier  than  he 
was  expected,  he  found  the  decks  of  the  Juno  covered 
with  the  skins  of  sea-dogs,  foxes,  and  birds.  He  had 
heard  Langsdorff  go  to  his  cabin  later  than  usual  the 
night  before,  and  that  his  pet  aversion  was  the  cause  of 
a  fresh  grievance,  but  hastened  the  eruption  of  his 
smouldering  resentment  toward  life  in  general. 

"What  does  this  mean?"  he  roared  to  the  sailor  on 
watch.  ' '  Clear  them  off — overboard,  every  one  of  them. 
What  are  you  staring  at  ? " 

The  sailor,  who  was  a  "Bostonian,"  an  inheritance 
with  the  ship,  opened  his  mouth  in  favor  of  the  unfor 
tunate  professor,  but  like  his  mates,  he  stood  in  much 
awe  of  a  master  whose  indulgence  demanded  implicit 
obedience  in  return.  Without  further  ado,  he  flung  the 
skins  into  the  sea. 

Rezanov,  to  do  him  justice,  would  not  have  acted  other 
wise  had  he  risen  in  the  best  of  tempers.  He  had  in 
flicted  himself  with  the  society  of  the  learned  doctor  that 
he  might  always  have  a  physician  and  surgeon  at  hand, 
as  well  as  an  interpreter  where  Latin  was  the  one  door 
of  communication.  He  should  pay  him  handsomely, 
make  him  a  present  in  addition  to  the  sum  agreed  upon, 
but  he  had  not  the  least  intention  of  giving  up  any  of 
the  Juno's  precious  space  to  the  vagaries  of  a  scientist, 
nor  to  submit  to  the  pollution  of  her  atmosphere.  Langs 
dorff  was  his  creature,  and  the  sooner  he  realized  the 
fact  the  better. 

"Remember,"  he  said  to  the  sailor,  "no  more  of  this, 

or  it  will  be  the  worse  for  you What  is  this  ? "  He 

had  come  upon  a  pile  of  ducks,  gulls,  pelicans,  and  other 

103 


104  REZANOV 

aquatic  birds.    Are  these  the  cook's  or  the  professor's?" 

"The  professor's,  Excellency." 

"Overboard."    And  the  birds  followed  the  skins. 

Rezanov  turned  to  confront  the  white  and  trembling 
Langsdorff.  The  naturalist  was  enfolded  in  a  gorgeous 
Japanese  dressing-gown,  purple  brocade  embroidered 
with  gold,  that  he  had  surreptitiously  bought  in  the 
harbor  of  Nagasaki.  To  Rezanov  it  was  like  a  red  rag 
to  a  bull ;  but  the  professor  was  oblivious  at  the  moment 
of  the  tactless  garment.  His  eyes  were  glaring  and  the 
extended  tip  of  his  nose  worked  like  a  knife  trying  to 
leap  from  its  sheath.  But  although  he  occasionally  ven 
tured  upon  a  retort  when  goaded  too  far  in  conversa 
tion,  he  was  able  to  curb  his  just  indignation  when  the 
Chamberlain  was  in  a  bad  temper.  In  that  vague  gray 
under  winking  stars  in  their  last  watch,  Rezanov  seemed 
to  tower  six  feet  above  him. 

"Excellency,"  he  murmured. 

"Well?" 

"My — my  specimens." 

"Your  what?" 

"The  cause  of  science  is  very  dear  to  me,  Excellency." 

"So  it  is  to  me — in  its  proper  place.  Were  those 
skins  yours?"  His  voice  became  very  suave.  "I  am 
sorry  you  should  have  fatigued  yourself  for  nothing, 
but  I  am  forced  to  remind  you  that  this  is  not  an  expedi 
tion  undertaken  for  the  promotion  of  natural  history. 
I  am  not  violating  my  part  in  the  contract,  I  believe. 
Upon  our  arrival  at  Sitka  you  are  at  liberty  to  remain 
as  my  guest  and  make  use  of  the  first  boat  that  sails 
for  this  colony ;  but  for  the  present  I  beg  that  you  will 
limit  yourself  to  the  requirements  of  your  position  on 
my  staff." 

He  turned  his  back  and  ordered  a  canoe  to  be  low 
ered.  Since  the  arrival  of  the  Governor  and  Comman- 
dante,  now  three  days  ago,  all  restrictions  on  his  liberty 
had  been  removed,  and  the  phrases  of  hospitality  were  a 
trifle  less  meaningless.  He  had  been  asked  to  give  his 
word  to  keep  away  from  the  fortifications,  and  as  he 


REZANOV  105 

knew  quite  as  much  of  the  military  resources  of  the 
country  as  he  desired,  he  had  merely  suppressed  a  smile 
and  given  his  promise. 

This  morning  he  wanted  nothing  but  a  walk.  He  had 
slept  badly,  the  blood  was  in  his  head,  his  nerves  were 
on  edge.  He  went  rapidly  along  the  beach  and  over 
the  steep  hills  that  led  to  the  northeastern  point  of  the 
peninsula.  But  he  had  taken  the  walk  before  and  did 
not  turn  his  head  to  look  at  the  great  natural  amphithe 
ater  formed  by  the  inner  slopes  of  those  barren  heights, 
so  uninteresting  of  outline  from  the  water.  Once  when 
Luis  had  left  him  to  go  down  with  an  order  to  the  Bat 
tery  of  Yerba  Buena,  he  had  examined  it  critically  and 
concluded  that  never  had  there  been  so  fine  a  site  for  a 
great  city.  Nor,a  more  beautiful,  with  the  broken  line 
of  the  San  Bruno  mountains  in  the  distance  and  a 
glimpse  of  the  Mission  valley  just  beyond  this  vast  col- 
osseum,  whose  steep  imposing  lines  were  destined  by  na 
ture  to  be  set  with  palaces  and  bazaars,  minarets  and 
towers  and  churches,  with  a  thousand  gilded  domes  and 
slender  crosses  glittering  in  the  crystal  air  and  sun- 
flood.  If  not  another  Moscow,  then  an  Irkutsk  in  his 
day,  at  least. 

But  he  did  not  give  the  chosen  site  of  his  city  a  glance 
to-day,  although  in  this  gray  air  before  dawn  when 
mystery  and  imagination  most  closely  embrace,  he  might 
at  another  time  have  forgotten  himself  in  one  of  those 
fits  of  dreaming  that  slipped  him  out  of  touch  with 
realities,  and  sometimes  precipitated  action  in  a  manner 
highly  gratifying  to  his  enemies. 

But  much  as  he  loved  Russia,  there  were  times  when 
he  loved  his  own  way  more,  and  since  the  arrival  of 
Governor  Arrillaga  he  was  beginning  to  feel  as  he  had 
felt  in  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki.  Not  a  word  since  that 
first  interview  had  been  said  of  his  cargo;  nor  even  of 
the  treaty,  although  nothing  could  have  been  more  nat 
ural  than  the  discussion  of  details.  Whenever  he  had 
delicately  broached  either  subject,  he  had  been  met  with 
a  polite  indifference,  that  had  little  in  common  with  the 


106  REZANOV 

cordiality  otherwise  shown  him.  He  foresaw  that  he 
might  be  obliged  to  reveal  the  more  pressing  object  of 
his  visit  without  further  diplomacy,  and  the  thought  irri 
tated  him  beyond  endurance. 

"Whether  Concha  were  giving  him  her  promised  aid 
he  had  no  means  of  discovering,  and  herein  lay  another 
cause  of  his  general  vexation.  He  had  dined  every  day 
at  the  Commandante 's,  danced  there  every  night.  Con 
cha  had  been  vivacious,  friendly — impersonal.  Not  so 
much  as  a  coquettish  lift  of  the  brow  betrayed  that  the 
distinguished  stranger  eclipsed  the  caballeros  for  the 
moment;  nor  a  whispered  word  that  he  retained  the 
friendship  she  had  offered  him  on  the  day  of  their  meet 
ing.  He  had  not,  indeed,  had  a  word  with  her  alone. 
But  his  interest  and  admiration  had  deepened.  It  was 
evident  that  her  father  and  the  Governor  adored  her, 
would  deny  her  little.  Her  attitude  to  them  was  alter 
nately  that  of  the  petted  child  and  the  chosen  compan 
ion.  As  her  mother  was  indisposed,  she  occupied  her 
place  at  the  table,  presiding  with  dignity,  guiding  the 
conversation,  revealing  the  rare  gift  of  making  everyone 
appear  at  his  best.  In  the  evening  she  had  sometimes 
danced  alone  for  a  few  moments,  but  more  often  with  her 
Russian  guests,  and  readily  learning  the  English  coun 
try  dances  they  were  anxious  to  teach.  Rezanov  would 
have  found  the  gay  informality  of  these  evenings  delight 
ful  had  his  mind  been  at  ease  about  his  Sitkans,  and 
Concha  a  trifle  more  personal.  He  had  begun  by  sus 
pecting  that  she  was  maneuvering  for  his  scalp,  but  he 
was  forced  to  acquit  her ;  for  not  only  did  she  show  no 
provocative  favor  to  another,  but  she  seemed  to  have 
gained  in  dignity  and  pride  since  his  arrival,  actually 
to  have  kissed  her  hand  in  farewell  to  the  childhood  he 
had  been  so  slow  in  divining ;  grown — he  felt  rather  than 
analyzed — above  the  pettiness  of  coquetry.  Once  more 
she  had  stirred  the  dormant  ideals  of  his  early  man 
hood;  there  were  moments  when  she  floated  before  his 
inner  vision  as  the  embodiment  of  the  world's  beauty. 
Nor  ever  had  there  been  a  woman  born  more  elaborately 


REZANOV  107 

equipped  for  the  position  of  a  public  man's  mate;  nor 
more  ingenerate,  perhaps,  with  the  power  to  turn  earth 
into  heaven. 

He  had  wondered  humorously  if  he  were  fallen  in 
love,  but,  although  he  retained  little  faith  in  the  activi 
ties  of  the  heart  after  youth,  he  was  beginning  seri 
ously  to  consider  the  expedience  of  marrying  Concha 
Argiiello.  He  had  not  intended  to  marry  again,  and  it 
was  this  old  and  passionate  love  of  personal  freedom  that 
alone  held  him  back,  for  nothing  would  be  so  advan 
tageous  to  the  Russian  colonies  in  their  present  crisis  as 
a  strong  individual  alliance  with  California.  Concha 
Argiiello  was  the  famous  daughter  of  its  first  subject, 
and  with  the  powerful  friends  she  would  bring  to  her 
husband,  the  consummation  of  ends  dearer  to  his  heart 
than  aught  on  earth  would  be  a  matter  of  months  instead 
of  years.  And  he  thrilled  with  pride  as  he  thought  of 
Concha  in  St.  Petersburg.  Two  years  of  court  life  and 
she  would  be  one  of  the  greatest  ladies  in  Europe.  That 
he  could  win  her  he  believed,  and  without  undue  vanity. 
He  had  much  to  offer  an  ambitious  clever  girl  conscious 
of  her  superiority  to  the  men  of  this  province  of  Spain, 
and  chafing  at  the  prospect  of  a  lifetime  in  a  bountiful 
desert.  His  only  hesitation  lay  in  his  own  doubt  if  she 
were  worth  the  loss  of  his  freedom,  and  all  that  word 
involved  to  a  man  of  his  position  and  adventurous  spirit. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  at  this  argument;  he  had 
walked  off  some  of  his  ill-humor,  and  reverted  willingly 
to  a  theme  that  alone  had  given  him  satisfaction  during 
the  past  few  days.  At  the  same  time  he  made  a  motion 
as  if  flinging  aside  an  old  burden. 

"It  is  time  for  such  nonsense  to  end,"  he  thought 
contemptuously.  "And  in  truth  these  three  years  have 
wrought  such  changes  in  me  I  doubt  I  should  have  pa 
tience  for  an  hour  of  the  old  trifling.  My  greatest  need 
from  this  time  on,  I  fancy,  is  work.  I  could  never  be 
idle  a  month  again.  And  when  a  man  is  in  love  with 
work — and  power — and  has  passed  forty — does  he  want 
a  constant  companion?  That  is  the  point.  At  my  time 


108  REZANOV 

of  life  power  exercises  the  most  irresistible  and  lasting 
of  all  fascinations.  A  man  that  wins  it  has  little  left 
for  a  woman." 

He  had  reached  the  summit  of  the  rocky  outpost,  the 
highest  of  the  hills  where  the  peninsula  turned  abruptly 
to  the  south,  and,  scrupulously  refraining  from  a  down 
ward  glance  at  the  Battery  of  Yerba  Buena,  stood  look 
ing  out  over  the  bay  to  the  eastern  mountains:  dark, 
almost  formless,  wrapped  in  the  intense  and  menacing 
mystery  of  that  last  hour  before  dawn. 

' '  Senor ! ' '  called  a  low  cautious  voice. 

Rezanov  stepped  hastily  back  from  the  point  of  the 
bluff  and  glanced  about  in  wonder,  his  pulses  suddenly 
astir.  But  he  could  see  no  one. 

"Senor!" 

This  time  the  direction  was  unmistakable,  and  he  went 
to  the  edge  of  the  plateau  facing  the  south  and  looked 
over.  Halfway  down  a  shallow  and  almost  perpendicu 
lar  gully,  he  saw  a  girl  forcing  a  mustang  up  the  harsh 
loose  path.  The  girl's  white  and  oval  face  looked  from 
the  folds  of  a  black  reboso  like  the  moon  emerging  from 
clouds,  and  its  young  beauty  was  out  of  place  in  that 
wild  and  forbidding  setting.  She  reined  in  her  horse 
as  she  caught  his  eye  and  beckoned  superfluously;  then 
guided  her  mustang  to  a  little  ledge  where  he  could  plant 
his  feet  firmly,  permitting  her  to  reassume  her  usual 
pride  of  carriage  and  averting  the  danger  of  a  sudden 
scramble  or  need  of  assistance. 

As  Rezanov  reached  her  side,  she  gave  him  a  grave 
and  friendly  smile,  but  no  opportunity  to  kiss  her  hand. 

"I  have  followed  your  excellency,"  she  said.  "I  saw 
you  leave  the  Juno,  and  as  I  am  often  up  at  this  hour, 
and  as  no  one  else  ever  is,  my  father  ignores  the  fact 
that  I  sometimes  ride  alone.  I  have  never  come  as  far 
as  this  before,  but  there  is  something  I  wish  to  say  to 
you,  and  there  is  no  opportunity  at  home.  I  rsked  San 
tiago  to  find  me  one  last  night,  but  he  was  in  a  bad 
temper  and  would  not.  Men!  However — I  suppose 
you  have  heard  nothing  of  the  cargo?" 


REZANOV  109 

"I  have  not,"  said  Rezanov  grimly,  although  acutely 
sensible  that  the  subject  suited  neither  his  mood  nor 
the  hour. 

"But  the  Governor  has!  Madre  de  Dios!  all  the 
women  of  the  Presidio  and  the  Mission  have  pestered 
him.  They  are  sick  with  jealousy  at  the  shawls  you. 
gave  us  that  day — those  that  did  not  go  to  the  ship. 
How  clever  of  your  excellency  to  give  us  just  enough 
for  ourselves  and  nothing  for  our  friends!  And  those 
that  went  want  more  and  more.  They  have  called  upon 
him — one,  two,  four,  and  alone.  They  have  wept  and 
scolded  and  pleaded.  I  did  not  know  until  yesterday 
that  your  commissary  had  also  shown  the  things  to  the 
priests  from  San  Jose — Father  Jose  Uria  and  Father 
Pedro  de  la  Cueya.  They  and  the  priests  of  San  Fran 
cisco  have  argued  with  the  Governor  not  once  but  three 
times.  Dios!  how  his  poor  excellency  swore  yesterday. 
He  threatened  to  return  at  once  to  Monterey.  I  flew  into 
a  great  rage  and  threatened  in  turn  to  follow  with  all 
the  other  girls  and  all  the  priests — vowed  he  should  not 
have  one  moment  of  peace  until  that  cargo  was  ours. ' ' 

' '  Well  ? ' '  asked  Rezanov  sharply,  in  spite  of  his  amuse 
ment. 

Concha  shook  her  head.  ' '  When  he  does  not  swear,  he 
answers  only:  'Buy  if  you  have  the  money.  I  have 
never  broken  a  law  of  Spain,  and  I  shall  not  begin  in 
my  old  age. '  He  knows  well  that  we  have  no  money  to 
send  out  of  New  Spain;  but  I  have  conceived  a  plan, 
senor.  It  is  for  you,  not  for  me,  to  suggest  it.  You  will 
never  betray  that  I  have  been  your  friend,  Excellency?" 

"I  will  swear  it  if  you  wish,"  said  Rezanov  frigidly. 

"Pardon,  senor.  If  I  thought  you  could  I  should  not 
be  here.  One  often  says  such  things.  This  is  the  plan : 
You  shall  suggest  that  we  buy  your  wares,  and  that  you 
buy  again  with  our  money.  The  dear  Governor  only 
wants  to  save  his  conscience  an  ache,  for  we  have  driven 
him  nearly  distracted.  I  am  sure  he  will  consent,  for 
you  will  know  how  to  put  it  to  him  very  diplomati 
cally." 


110  REZANOV 

"But  if  he  refused  to  understand,  or  his  conscience 
remained  obdurate?  I  should  then  have  neither  cargo 
nor  ballast." 

"He  would  never  trick  a  guest,  nor  would  he  let  the 
money  go  out  of  the  country.  And  he  knows  well  how 
much  we  need  your  cargo  and  longs  to  be  able  to  state 
in  his  reports  that  he  sold  you  a  hold  full  of  breadstuffs. 
Moreover,  I  think  the  time  has  come  to  tell  him  of  the 
distress  at  Sitka.  He  is  very  soft-hearted  and  is  now 
in  that  distracted  state  of  mind  when  only  one  more 
argument  is  required.  I  hope  I  have  given  you  good 
advice,  Excellency.  It  is  the  best  I  can  think  of.  I 
have  given  it  much  thought,  and  the  terrible  state  of 
those  miserable  creatures  has  kept  me  awake  many 
nights.  I  must  return  now.  Will  your  excellency  kind 
ly  remain  here  until  I  am  well  on  my  way? — and  then 
return  by  the  beach  ?  I  shall  go  as  I  came,  through  the 
valley.  Neither  of  us  can  be  seen  from  the  Battery. ' ' 

"I  will  obey  all  your  instructions,"  said  Rezanov. 
But  he  did  not  move,  nor  could  the  mustang.  Concha 
smiled  and  pointed  to  the  other  side  of  the  cleft,  which 
was  about  as  wide  as  a  narrow  street. 

' '  Pardon,  senor,  I  cannot  turn. ' ' 

For  a  moment  Rezanov  stared  at  her,  through  her. 
Then  his  heavy  eyes  opened  and  flashed.  It  seemed  to 
him  that  for  the  first  time  he  saw  how  beautiful,  how 
desirable  she  was,  set  in  that  gray  volcanic  rock  with  the 
heavens  gray  above  her,  and  the  stars  fading  out.  It 
was  not  the  bower  he  would  have  imagined  for  the  woo 
ing  of  a  mate,  but  neither  moonlight  nor  the  romantic 
glades  of  La  Bellissima  could  have  awakened  in  him  a 
passion  so  sudden  and  final.  Her  face  between  the  black 
folds  turned  whiter  and  she  shrank  back  against  the 
jagged  wall;  and  when  his  eyes  flashed  again  with  a 
wild  eager  hope  she  involuntarily  crossed  herself.  He 
threw  himself  against  the  horse  and  snatched  her  down 
and  kissed  her  as  he  had  kissed  no  woman  yet,  recog 
nizing  her  once  for  all. 


REZANOV  111 

When  he  finally  held  her  at  arm's  length  for  a  mo 
ment  he  laughed  confusedly. 

"The  Russian  bear  is  no  longer  a  figure  of  speech," 
he  said.  ' '  Forgive  me.  I  forgot  that  you  are  as  tender 
as  you  are  strong." 

Her  hands  were  tightly  clasped  against  her  breast, 
and  the  breath  was  short  in  her  throat,  but  she  made  no 
protest.  Her  eyes  were  radiant,  her  mouth  was  the  only 
color  in  that  gray  dawn.  In  a  moment  she  too  laughed. 

' '  Dios  de  mi  alma !  What  will  they  say  ?  A  heretic ! 
If  Tamalpais  fell  into  the  sea  it  would  not  make  so 
great  a  sensation  in  this  California  of  ours  where  civi 
lized  man  exists  but  to  drive  heathen  souls  into  the  one 
true  church." 

' '  Will  it  matter  to  you  ?  Are  you  strong  enough  ?  It 
will  be  only  a  question  of  time  to  win  them  over,  if  you 
are." 

She  nodded  emphatically.  ' '  I  was  born  with  strength. 
Now — Dios! — now  I  can  be  stronger  than  the  King  of 
Spain  himself,  than  the  Governor,  my  parents  and  all 

the  priests You  would  not  become  a  Catholic  ? ' '  she 

asked  abruptly. 

He  shook  his  head,  although  he  still  smiled  at  her. 
' '  Not  even  for  you. ' ' 

"No,"  she  said  thoughtfully.  "I  will  confess — what 
matters  it? — I  often  dreamed  that  this  would  come  just 
because  I  believed  it  would  not.  But  why  should  one 
control  the  imagination  when  it  alone  can  give  us  happi 
ness  for  a  little  while  ?  I  gave  it  rein,  for  I  thought  that 
one-half  of  all  my  life  was  to  be  passed  in  that  unreal 
but  by  no  means  niggardly  world.  And  I  thought  of 
everything.  To  change  your  religion  would  mean  the 
ruin  of  your  career ;  moreover,  it  is  not  a  possibility  of 
your  character.  Were  it  I  think  I  should  not  love  you  so 
much.  Nor  could  I  bear  to  think  of  any  change  in  you. 
Only  it  will  be  harder — longer."  Then  she  stretched 
out  her  hand,  and  closed  and  opened  it  slowly.  The  most 
obtuse  could  not  have  failed  to  read  the  old  simile  of 


112  REZANOV 

the  steel  in  the  velvet.  "I  shall  win  because  it  is  my 
nature — and  my  power — to  hold  what  I  grasp. ' ' 

"But  if  they  persistently  refuse " 

"Dios!"  she  interrupted  him.  "Do  you  think  that 
your  love  is  greater  than  mine?  I  was  born  with  a 
thousand  years  of  love  in  me  and  had  you  not  come  I 
should  have  gone  alone  with  my  dreams  to  the  grave.  I 
am  all  women  in  one,  not  merely  Concha  Argiiello,  a 
girl  of  sixteen. ' '  She  clasped  her  hands  high  above  her 
head,  lifting  her  eyes  to  the  ashen  vault  so  soon  to  yield 
to  the  gay  brush  of  dawn. 

"Before  all  that  great  mystery,"  she  said  solemnly, 
"I  give  myself  to  you  for  ever,  how  much  or  how  little 
that  may  mean  here  on  earth.  For  ever. ' ' 


XVI 

THE  Commandante  of  the  San  Francisco  Company  sat 
opposite  Rezanov  with  his  mouth  open,  the  lines  of  his 
strong  face  elongated  and  relaxed.  It  was  the  hour  of 
siesta,  and  they  were  alone  in  the  sala. 

" Mother  of  God!'*  he  exclaimed.  "Mother  of  God! 
Are  you  mad,  Excellency?" 

"No  man  was  ever  saner,"  said  Rezanov  cheerfully. 
"What  better  proof  would  you  have  than  this  final  tes 
timony  to  Dona  Concha's  perfections?" 

"But  it  cannot  be!  Surely,  Excellency,  you  realize 
that  ?  The  priests !  Ay  yi !  Ay  yi ! " 

"I  think  I  understand  the  priests.  Persuade  the 
Governor  to  buy  my  cargo  and  they  will  look  upon  me 
as  an  amicus  humani  generis  to  whom  common  rules  do 
not  apply.  And  I  have  won  their  sincere  friendship. ' ' 

"You  have  won  mine,  senor.  But,  though  I  say  it, 
there  is  no  more  devout  Catholic  in  the  Californias  than 
Jose  Argiiello.  Do  you  know  what  they  call  me?  El 
santo.  God  knows  I  am  not,  but  it  is  not  for  want  of 
the  wish.  Did  I  give  my  daughter  to  a  heretic,  not  only 
should  I  become  an  outcast,  a  pariah,  but  I  should  im 
peril  my  everlasting  soul  and  that  of  my  best  beloved 
child.  It  is  impossible,  Excellency — unless,  indeed,  you 
embrace  our  faith." 

"That  is  so  impossible  that  the  subject  is  not  worth 
the  waste  of  a  moment.  But  surely,  Commandante,  in 
your  excitement  at  this  perfectly  natural  issue  you  are 
misrepresenting  yourself.  I  do  not  believe,  devout  Cath 
olic  as  you  are,  that  your  soul  is  steeped  in  fanaticism. 
You  are  known  far  and  wide  as  the  first  and  most  intel 
ligent  of  his  Catholic  Majesty's  subjects  in  New  Spain. 

113 


114  REZANOV 

When  you  have  my  word  of  honor  that  your  daughter 's 
faith  shall  never  be  disturbed,  it  is  impossible  you  should 
believe  that  marriage  with  me  would  ruin  her  chances 
of  happiness  in  the  next  world.  But  I  doubt  if  your 
soul  and  conscience  will  have  the  peace  you  desire  if 
you  ruin  her  happiness  in  this.  What  pleasure  do  you 
find  in  the  thought  of  an  old  age  companioned  by  a 
heart-broken  daughter  ? ' ' 

Don  Jose  turned  pale  and  hitched  his  chair.  "Other 
maids  have  been  balked  when  young,  and  have  forgot 
ten.  Concha  is  but  sixteen " 

"She  is  also  unique.  She  will  marry  me  or  no  one. 
Of  that  I  am  as  certain  as  that  she  is  the  woman  of 
women  for  me." 

"How  can  you  be  so  certain?"  asked  the  Comman- 
dante  sharply.  "Surely  you  have  had  little  talk  alone 
with  her?" 

"The  heart  has  a  language  of  its  own.  Eecall  your 
own  youth,  senor." 

"It  is  true,"  said  Don  Jose,  with  a  heavy  sigh,  as  he 
had  a  fleeting  vision  of  Dona  Ignacia,  slim  and  lovely, 
at  the  grating,  with  a  rose  in  her  hair.  "But  this  tre 
mendous  passion  of  the  heart — it  passes,  senor,  it  passes. 
We  love  the  good  wife,  but  we  sometimes  realize  that  we 
could  have  loved  another  good  wife  as  well. ' ' 

"That  is  a  bit  of  philosophy  I  should  have  uttered 
myself,  Commandante — yesterday.  But  there  are  wom 
en  and  women,  and  your  daughter  is  one  of  the  chosen 
few  who  take  from  the  years  what  the  years  take  from 
others.  I  am  not  rushing  into  matrimony  for  the  sake 
of  a  pair  of  black  eyes  and  a  fine  figure.  I  have  out 
lived  the  possibility  of  making  a  fool  of  myself  if  I 
would.  Before  I  realized  how  deeply  I  loved  your 
daughter  I  had  deliberately  chosen  her  out  of  all  the 
women  I  have  known,  as  my  friend  and  companion  for 
the  various  and  difficult  ways  of  life  which  I  shall  be 
called  upon  to  follow.  Your  daughter  will  have  a  high 
place  at  the  Russian  Court,  and  she  will  occupy  it  as 
naturally  as  if  I  had  found  her  in  Madrid  and  you  in 


REZANOV  115 

the  great  position  to  which  your  attainments  and  serv 
ices  entitle  you." 

Don  Jose,  despite  his  consternation,  titillated  agree 
ably.  He  privately  thought  no  one  in  New  Spain  good 
enough  for  his  daughter,  and  his  weather-beaten  self 
was  not  yet  insensible  to  the  rare  visitation  of  winged 
darts  tipped  with  honey.  But  the  situation  was  one  of 
the  most  embarrassing  he  had  ever  been  called  upon  to 
face,  and  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  his  direct  and 
honest  life  his  resolution  was  shaken  in  a  crisis. 

"Believe  me,  your  excellency,  I  appreciate  the  honor 
you  have  done  my  house,  and  I  will  add  with  all  my  heart 
that  never  have  I  liked  any  man  more.  But — Mother 
of  God!  Mother  of  God!" 

Rezanov  took,  out  his  cigarette  case,  a  superb  bit  of 
Russian  enamel,  graven  with  the  Imperial  arms,  and  a 
parting  gift  from  Alexander.  He  passed  it  to  his  host, 
who  had  developed  a  preference  for  Russian  cigarettes. 

' '  There  are  other  things  to  consider  besides  the  happi 
ness  of  your  daughter  and  myself, ' '  he  remarked.  ' '  This 
alliance  would  mean  the  consolidation  of  Spanish  and 
Russian  interests  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  would  mean 
the  protection  of  California  in  the  almost  certain  event 
of  'American'  aggression.  And  I  hear  that  a  courier 
brought  word  again  yesterday  that  the  Russian  and 
the  Spanish  fleets  had  sailed  for  these  waters.  I  do  not 
believe  a  word  of  it;  but  should  it  be  true,  I  would 
remind  you  of  two  things:  that  I  have  the  powers  of 
the  Tsar  himself  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  that  the 
Russian  fleet  is  likely  to  arrive  first. ' ' 

Again  the  Commandante  moved  uneasily.  The  news 
from  Mexico  had  kept  himself  and  the  Governor  awake 
the  better  part  of  the  night.  He  fully  appreciated  the 
importance  of  this  powerful  Russian 's  friendship.  Noth 
ing  would  bind  and  commit  him  like  taking  a  Califor- 
nian  to  wife.  If  only  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  Caro 
lina  Ximeno  or  Delfina  Rivera!  Don  Jose  had  an  un 
easy  suspicion  that  his  scruples  as  a  Catholic  might 
have  gone  down  before  his  sense  of  duty  to  this  poor 


116  REZANOV 

California.  But  a  heretic  in  his  own  family !  He  was 
justly  renowned  for  his  piety.  Aside  from  the  wrath 
of  the  church,  the  mere  thought  of  one  of  his  offspring 
in  matrimonial  community  beyond  its  pale  made  him 
sick  with  repugnance.  And  yet — California!  And  he 
would  have  selected  Rezanov  for  his  daughter  out  of  all 
men  had  he  been  of  their  faith.  And  he  was  deeply 
conscious  of  the  honor  that  had  descended,  however  un- 
fruitfully,  upon  his  house.  Madre  de  Dios !  How  would 
it  end?  Suddenly  he  felt  himself  inspired.  In  blissful 
ignorance  of  her  subtle  feminine  rule,  he  reminded  him 
self  that  Concha 's  mind  was  the  child  of  his  own.  When 
she  saw  his  embarrassment,  filial  duty  and  woman 's  wit 
would  extricate  them  both  with  grace  and  avert  the 
enmity  of  the  Russian  even  though  the  latter 's  more 
personal  interest  in  California  must  die  in  his  disap 
pointment.  He  would  make  her  feel  the  weight  of  the 
stern  paternal  hand,  and  then  indicate  the  part  she  had 
to  play. 

He  rang  a  bell  and  directed  the  servant  to  summon 
his  daughter,  drew  himself  up  to  his  full  height,  and  set 
his  rugged  face  in  hard  lines.  As  Concha  entered  he 
looked  the  Commandante,  the  stern  disciplinarian,  every 
inch  of  him. 

There  was  no  trace  of  the  siesta  in  Concha's  cheeks. 
They  were  very  white,  but  her  eyes  were  steady  and 
her  mouth  indomitable  as  she  walked  down  the  sala  and 
took  the  chair  Rezanov  placed  for  her.  Except  for  her 
Castilian  fairness,  she  looked  very  like  the  martinet 
sitting  on  the  other  side  of  the  table.  The  Comman 
dante  regarded  her  silently  with  brows  drawn  together. 
Dimly,  he  felt  apprehension,  wondered,  in  a  flash  of 
insight,  if  girls  held  fast  to  the  parental  recipe,  or  re- 
combined  with  tongue  in  cheek.  The  bare  possi 
bility  of  resistance  almost  threw  him  into  panic,  but  he 
controlled  his  features  until  the  effort  injected  his  eyes 
and  drew  in  his  nostrils.  Concha  regarded  him  calmly, 
although  her  heart  beat  unevenly,  for  she  dreaded  the 
long  strain  she  foresaw. 


REZANOV  117 

"My  daughter,"  said  Don  Jose  finally,  his  tones  harsh 
with  repressed  misgiving,  "do  you  suspect  why  I  have 
sent  for  you  ? ' ' 

"I  think  that  his  excellency  wishes  to  marry  me," 
replied  Concha;  and  the  Commandante  was  so  stag 
gered  by  the  calm  assurance  of  her  tone  and  manner  that 
his  pent-up  emotion  exploded. 

"Dios!"  he  roared.  "What  right  have  you  to  know 
when  a  man  wishes  to  marry  you?  What  manner  of 
Spanish  girl  is  this  ?  Truly  has  his  excellency  said  that 
you  are  not  as  other  women.  The  place  for  you  is  your 
room,  with  bread  and  water  for  a  week.  Sixteen ! ' ' 

"Ignacio  was  born  when  my  mother  was  sixteen," 
said  Concha  coolly. 

' '  What  of  that  ?  She  married  whom  and  when  she  was 
told  to  marry." 

' '  I  have  heard  that  you  serenaded  nightly  beneath  her 
grating " 

"So  did  others." 

' '  I  have  heard  that  when  of  all  her  suitors  her  father 
chose  one  more  highly  born,  a  gentleman  of  the  Vice 
roy's  court,  she  pined  until  they  gave  their  consent  to 
her  marriage  with  you,  lest  she  die." 

"But  I  was  a  Catholic!  The  prejudice  against  my 
birth  was  an  unworthy  one.  I  had  distinguished  myself. 
And  she  had  the  support  of  the  priests. ' ' 

"It  is  my  misfortune  that  M.  de  Rezanov  is  not  a 
Catholic,  but  it  will  make  no  difference.  I  shall  not  fall 
ill,  for  I  am  like  you,  not  like  my  dear  mother — and 
the  education  you  have  given  me  is  very  different  from 
hers.  But  I  shall  marry  his  excellency  or  no  one,  and 
whether  I  marry  him  or  live  alone  with  the  thought  of 
him  until  the  end  of  my  mortal  days,  I  do  not  believe 
that  my  soul  will  be  imperilled  in  the  least." 

"You  do  not!"  shouted  the  irate  Spaniard.  "How 
dare  you  presume  to  decide  such  a  question  for  your 
self?  What  does  a  woman  know  of  love  until  she  mar 
ries?  It  is  nothing  but  a  sickening  of  the  imagination 
before ;  and  if  the  man  goes,  the  doctor  soon  comes. ' ' 


118  REZANOV 

"You  may  not  have  intended — but  you  have  taught 
me  to  think  for  myself.  And  I  have  seen  others  besides 
M.  de  Rezanov — the  flower  of  California  and  more  than 
one  fine  gentleman  from  Mexico.  I  will  have  none  of 
them.  I  will  marry  the  man  of  my  choice  or  no  one. 
It  may  be  that  I  know  naught  of  love.  If  you  wish, 
you  may  think  that  my  choice  of  a  husband  is  deter 
mined  by  ambition,  that  I  am  dazzled  with  the  thought 
of  court  life  in  St.  Petersburg,  of  being  the  consort  of 
a  great  and  wealthy  noble.  It  matters  not.  Love  or 
ambition,  I  shall  marry  this  Russian  or  I  shall  never 
marry  at  all." 

' '  Mother  of  God !  Mother  of  God ! ' '  Don  Jose 's  face 
was  purple.  The  veins  swelled  in  his  neck.  He  was 
the  more  wroth  because  he  recognized  his  own  daughter 
and  his  own  handiwork,  because  he  saw  that  he  con 
fronted  a  Toledo  blade,  not  a  woman's  brittle  will. 
Concha  regarded  him  calmly. 

"If  you  refuse  your  consent,  you  will  lose  me  in  an 
other  way.  I  may  not  be  able  to  marry  as  I  wish,  but  I 
will  have  no  worldly  alternative.  I  shall  join  the  Third 
Order  of  the  Franciscans,  and  enter  a  convent  as  soon 
as  one  is  built  in  California.  To  that  you  cannot  with 
hold  your  consent,  or  they  no  longer  would  call  you 
El  santo." 

Don  Jose  leaped  from  his  chair.  ' '  Go  to  your  room ! ' ' 
he  thundered.  "And  do  not  dare  to  leave  it  without 
my  permission " 

But  Concha  sprang  forward  and  flung  herself  upon 
his  neck.  She  rubbed  her  warm  elastic  cheek  against 
his  own  in  the  manner  he  loved,  and  softened  her  voice. 
' '  Papacito  mio,  papacito  mio, ' '  she  pleaded.  ' '  Thou  wilt 
not  refuse  thy  Concha  the  only  thing  she  has  ever  begged 
of  thee.  And  I  beg!  I  beg!  Papa  mio!  I  love  him! 
I  love  him!"  And  she  broke  into  wild  weeping  and 
kissed  him  frantically,  while  Rezanov,  who  had  followed 
her  plan  of  attack  and  resistance  in  silent  admiration, 
did  not  know  whether  he  should  himself  be  moved  to 
tears  or  further  admire. 


REZANOV  119 

Don  Jose  pushed  her  from  him  with  a  heavy  sob  and 
hastily  left  the  room,  oblivious  in  the  confusion  of  his 
faculties  of  the  boon  he  conferred  on  the  lovers.  Concha 
dried  her  eyes,  but  her  face  was  deathly  pale.  It  had 
not  been  all  acting,  by  any  means,  and  she  was  beginning 
to  feel  the  tyranny  of  sleepless  nights ;  and  the  joy  and 
wonder  of  the  morning  had  left  her  with  but  a  remnant 
of  endurance  for  the  domestic  battleground. 

"Go,"  she  whispered,  as  he  took  her  in  his  arms. 
"Return  for  the  dance  to-night  as  if  nothing  had  hap 
pened I  forgot,  there  is  to  be  a  bull-bear  fight  in 

the  square.  So  much  the  better,  for  it  is  in  your  honor, 
and  you  could  not  well  remain  away.  There  is  much 
trouble  to  come,  but  in  the  end  we  shall  win. ' ' 


XVII 

THE  muscles  in  Dona  Ignacia  's  cheeks  fell  an  inch  as  she 
listened,  dumfounded,  to  the  tale  her  husband  poured 
out.  To  her  simple  aristocratic  soul  Rezanov  had  loomed 
too  great  a  personage  to  dream  of  mating  with  a  Cali- 
fornian;  and  as  her  sharp  maternal  instinct  had  recog 
nized  his  personal  probity,  even  his  gallantries  had 
seemed  to  her  no  more  consequent  than  the  more  catholic 
trifling  of  his  officers. 

"Holy  Mary!"  she  whimpered,  when  her  voice  came 
back.  "Holy  Mary!  A  heretic!  And  he  would  take 
our  Concha  from  us !  And  she  would  go !  To  St.  Peters 
burg!  Ten  thousand  miles!  To  the  priests  with  her — 
now — this  very  day!" 

Concha  had  thrown  herself  on  her  bed  in  belated  hope 
of  siesta,  when  Malia  (Rosa  had  been  sent  to  the  house 
of  Don  Mario  Sal  in  the  valley)  entered  with  the  mes 
sage  that  she  was  to  accompany  her  parents  to  the  Mis 
sion  at  once.  She  rose  sullenly,  but  in  the  manifold  es 
sentials  of  a  girl's  life  she  had  always  yielded  the  im 
plicit  obedience  exacted  by  the  Californian  parent.  In  a 
few  moments  she  was  riding  out  of  the  Presidio  beside 
her  father.  Dona  Ignacia  jolted  behind  in  her  carreta, 
a  low  and  clumsy  vehicle,  on  solid  wheels  and  springless, 
drawn  by  oxen,  and  driven  by  a  stable-boy  on  a  mus 
tang.  The  journey  was  made  in  complete  silence  save 
for  the  maledictions  addressed  to  the  oxen  by  the  boy, 
and  an  occasional ' '  Ay  yi ! "  ' '  Madre  de  Dios ! "  "  Saint 
ed  Mary,  but  the  sun  bores  a  hole  in  the  head,"  from 
Dona  Ignacia,  whose  increasing  discomfort  banished 
wrath  and  apprehension  for  the  hour. 

Don  Jose  did  not  even  look  at  his  daughter,  but  his 
face  was  ten  years  older  than  in  the  morning.  He  had 

120 


REZANOV  121 

begun  dimly  to  appreciate  that  she  was  suffering,  and 
in  a  manner  vastly  different  from  the  passionate  resent 
ment  he  had  seen  her  display  when  the  contents  of  a 
box  from  Mexico  disappointed  her,  or  she  was  denied  a 
visit  to  Monterey.  That  his  best-beloved  child  should 
suffer  tore  his  own  heart,  but  he  merely  cursed  Rezanov 
and  resolved  to  do  his  best  to  persuade  the  Governor  to 
yield  to  his  other  demands,  that  California  might  be  rid 
of  him  the  sooner. 

Father  Abella  was  walking  down  the  long  outer  cor 
ridor  of  the  Mission  reading  his  breviary,  and  praying 
he  might  not  be  diverted  from  righteousness  by  the  com 
forting  touch  of  his  new  habit,  when  he  looked  up  and 
saw  the  party  from  the  presidio  floundering  over  the 
last  of  the  sand»  hills.  He  shuffled  off  to  order  refresh 
ments,  and  returned  in  time  to  disburden  the  carreta 
of  Dona  Ignacia — no  mean  feat — volubly  delighted  in 
the  visit  and  the  gossip  it  portended.  But  as  he  offered 
his  arm  to  lead  her  into  the  sala,  she  pushed  him  aside 
and  pointed  to  Concha,  who  had  sprung  to  the  ground 
unassisted. 

' '  She  has  come  to  confess,  padre ! ' '  she  exclaimed,  her 
mind,  under  the  deep  tiled  roof  of  the  corridor,  read 
justing  itself  to  tragedy.  ' '  I  beg  that  you  will  take  her 
at  once.  Padre  Landaeta  can  give  us  chocolate  and  we 
will  tell  our  terrible  news  to  him  and  receive  advice  and 
consolation." 

Father  Abella,  not  without  a  glimmering  of  the  truth, 
for  better  than  anyone  he  understood  the  girl  he  had 
confessed  many  times,  besides  himself  having  succumbed 
to  the  Russian,  led  the  way  to  the  confessional  in  some 
perturbation  of  spirit.  He  walked  slowly,  hoping  that 
the  long  cool  church,  its  narrow  high  windows  admitting 
so  scant  a  meed  of  sunlight  that  no  one  of  its  worship 
pers  had  ever  read  the  painted  legends  on  the  walls, 
and  even  the  stations  were  but  deeper  bits  of  shade, 
would  attune  her  mind  to  holy  things,  and  throw  a 
mantle  of  unreality  over  those  of  the  world. 

He  covered  his  face  with  his  hand  as  she  told  her 


122  REZANOV 

story.  This  she  did  in  a  few  words,  disjointed,  for  she 
was  both  tired  and  seething.  For  a  few  moments  after 
ward  there  was  a  silence;  the  good  priest  was  increas 
ingly  disturbed  and  by  no  means  certain  of  his  course. 
He  was  astonished  to  feel  a  tug  at  his  sleeve.  Before 
he  could  reprove  this  impenitent  child  for  audacity  she 
had  raised  herself  that  she  might  approach  her  lips  more 
closely  to  his  ear. 

' '  Mi  padre ! ' '  she  whispered  hoarsely,  ' '  you  will  take 
my  part !  You  will  not  condemn  me  to  a  life  of  misery ! 
I  am  too  proud  to  speak  openly  to  others — but  I  love 
this  man  more  than  my  soul — more  than  my  immortal 
soul.  Do  you  hear?  I  am  in  danger  of  mortal  sin. 
Perhaps  I  am  already  in  that  state.  You  cannot  save 
me  if  he  goes.  I  will  not  pray.  I  will  not  come  to  the 
church.  I  will  be  an  outcast.  If  I  marry  him,  I  will  be 
a  good  Catholic  to  the  end  of  my  days.  If  I  marry  him, 
I  can  think  of  other  things  besides — of  my  church,  my 
father,  my  mother,  my  sisters,  brothers.  If  he  goes,  I 
shall  pass  my  life  thinking  of  nothing  but  him,  and  if  it 
be  true  that  heretics  are  doomed  to  hell,  then  I  will  live 
so  that  I  may  go  to  hell  with  him." 

In  spite  of  his  horror  the  priest  was  thrilled  by  the 
intense  passion  in  the  voice  so  close  to  his  ear.  More 
over,  he  knew  women  well,  this  good  padre,  for  even  in 
California  they  differed  little  from  those  that  played 
ball  with  the  world.  So  he  dismissed  the  horror  and 
spoke  soothingly. 

' '  What  you  have  said  would  be  mortal  sin,  my  daugh 
ter,  were  it  not  that  you  are  laboring  under  strong  and 
natural  excitement ;  and  I  shall  absolve  you  freely  when 
you  have  done  the  penance  I  must  impose.  You  have 
always  been  such  a  good  child  that  I  am  able  to  forgive 
you  even  in  this  terrible  moment.  But,  my  daughter, 
surely  you  know  that  this  marriage  can  never  take 
place » 

"It  shall!    It  shall!" 

"Control  yourself,  my  daughter.  You  cannot  bring 
this  man  into  the  true  church.  His  character  is  long 


REZANOV  123 

since  formed  and  cast — it  is  iron.  Even  love  will  not 
melt  it.  Were  he  younger " 

"I  should  hate  him.  All  young  men  are  insufferable 
to  me — always  have  been.  I  have  found  my  mate,  and 
have  him  I  will  if  I  have  to  hide  in  the  hold  of  his  ship. 
Ah,  padre  mio,  I  know  not  what  I  say.  But  you  will 
help  me.  Only  you  can.  My  father  thinks  you  as  wise 
as  a  saint.  And  there  are  other  things — my  head  turns 
round — I  can  hardly  think — but  you  dare  not  lose  the 
friendship  of  this  Eussian.  And  my  marriage  to  him 
would  be  as  much  for  the  good  of  the  Missions  as  for 
California  herself.  If  you  champion  our  cause,  point 
out  that  not  only  would  it  be  a  great  match  for  me,  but 
that  many  ends  would  be  lost  by  ruining  my  life.  The 
Governor  will  find  himself  in  a  position  to  grant  your 
prayers  for  the  cargo,  particularly  if  you  first  persuaded 
my  father — so  long  they  have  been  friends,  the  Governor 
could  not  resist  if  he  joined  our  forces.  What  is  one 
girl  that  she  should  be  held  of  greater  account  than  the 
welfare  of  this  country  to  which  you  are  devoting  your 
life?  The  happier  are  your  converts  the  more  kindly 
will  they  take  to  Christianity — which  they  do  not  IOTC 
as  yet! — the  more  faithful  and  contented  will  they  be, 
in  the  prospect  of  the  luxuries  and  the  toys  and  the  trin 
kets  of  the  Russian  north.  What  is  one  girl  against  the 
friendship  of  Russia  for  Spain?  Who  am  I  that  I 
should  weigh  a  peseta  in  the  scale?" 

' '  You  are  Concha  Argiiello,  the  flower  of  all  the  maid 
ens  in  California,  and  the  daughter  of  the  best  of  our 
men,"  replied  Father  Abella  musingly.  "And  until 
to-day  there  has  been  no  Catholic  more  devout " 

"It  lies  with  you,  mi  padre,  whether  I  continue  to  be 
the  best  of  Catholics  or  become  the  most  abandoned  of 
heretics.  You  know  me  better  than  anyone.  You  know 
that  I  will  not  weaken  and  bend  and  submit,  like  a  thou 
sand  other  women.  I  could  be  bad — bad — bad — and  I 
will  be!  Do  you  hear?"  And  she  shook  his  arm  vio 
lently,  while  her  hoarse  voice  filled  the  church. 

' '  My  child !    My  child !    I  have  always  believed  that 


124  REZANOV 

you  had  it  in  you  to  become  a  saint.  Yes,  yes,  I  feel 
the  strength  and  maturity  of  your  nature,  I  know  the 
lengths  to  which  it  might  lead  another;  but  you  could 
not  be  bad,  Conchita.  I  have  known  many  women.  In 
you  alone  have  I  perceived  the  capacity  for  spiritual  ex 
altation.  You  are  the  stuff  of  which  saints  and  martyrs 
are  made.  The  violent  will,  the  transcendent  passions 
— they  have  existed  in  the  greatest  of  our  saints,  and 
been  conquered." 

"I  will  not  conquer.  I Oh,  padre — for  the  love 

of  heaven " 

He  left  the  box  hastily  and  lifted  her  where  she  had 
fallen  and  carried  her  into  the  room  adjoining  the 
church.  He  laid  her  on  the  floor,  and  ran  for  Dona  Ig- 
nacia,  who,  refreshed  with  wine  and  chocolate,  came 
swiftly.  But  when  Concha,  under  practical  administra 
tions  and  maternal  endearments,  finally  opened  her  eyes, 
she  pushed  her  mother  coldly  aside,  rose  and  steadied 
herself  against  the  wall  for  a  moment,  then  returned 
to  the  church,  closing  the  door  behind  her. 

When  a  woman  has  borne  thirteen  children  in  the  lost 
corners  of  the  world,  with  scarce  a  thought  in  thirty 
years  for  aught  else  save  the  husband  and  his  comforts, 
it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  her  wits  should  be  rapiers 
or  her  vocabulary  distinguished.  But  Dona  Ignacia's 
unresting  heart  had  an  intelligence  of  its  own,  and  no 
inner  convulsion  could  alter  the  superb  dignity  of  mien 
which  Nature  had  granted  her.  As  she  rose  and  con 
fronted  Father  Abella  he  moved  forward  with  the  in 
stinct  to  kiss  her  hand,  as  he  had  seen  Rezanov  do. 

"Mi  padre,"  she  said,  "Concha  is  the  first  of  my 
children  to  push  me  aside,  and  it  is  like  a  blow  on  the 
heart;  but  I  have  neither  anger  nor  resentment,  for  it 
was  not  the  act  of  a  child  to  its  parent,  but  of  one 
woman  to  another.  Alas!  this  Russian,  what  has  he 
done,  when  her  own  mother  can  give  her  no  comfort? 
We  all  love  when  young,  but  this  is  more.  I  loved  Jose 
so  much  I  thought  I  should  die  when  they  would  have 
compelled  me  to  marry  another.  But  this  is  more.  She 


REZANOV  125 

will  not  die,  nor  even  go  to  bed  and  weep  for  days,  but 
it  is  more.  I  should  not  have  died,  I  know  that  now, 
and  in  time  I  should  have  married  another,  and  been  as 
happy  as  a  woman  can  be  when  the  man  is  kind.  Con 
cha  will  love  but  once,  and  she  will  suffer — suffer —  She 
may  be  more  than  I,  but  I  bore  her  and  I  know.  And 
she  cannot  marry  him.  A  heretic!  I  no  longer  think 
of  the  terrible  separation.  Were  he  a  Catholic  I  should 
not  think  of  myself  again.  But  it  cannot  be.  Oh,  padre, 
what  shall  we  do?" 

They  talked  for  a  long  while,  and  after  further  con 
sultation  with  Don  Jose  and  Father  Landaeta,  it  was 
decided  that  Concha  should  remain  for  the  present  in 
the  house  of  Juan  Moraga,  where  she  could  receive  the 
daily  counsels  of  the  priests,  and  be  beyond  the  reach 
of  Rezanov.  Meanwhile,  all  influence  would  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  Governor  that  the  Russian  might  be 
placated  even  while  made  to  realize  that  to  loiter  longer 
in  California  waters  would  be  but  a  waste  of  precious 
time. 


XVIII 

THERE  was  no  performance  after  all  in  the  Presidio 
square  that  night,  for  the  bear  brought  in  from  the  hills 
to  do  honor  to  the  Russians  died  of  exictement,  and  it 
rained  besides.  Rezanov  made  the  storm  his  excuse  for 
not  dining  and  dancing  as  usual  at  the  house  of  the 
Commandante.  But  the  relations  between  the  Presidio 
and  the  Juno  during  the  next  few  days  were  by  no 
means  strained.  Davidov  and  Khostov  were  always  with 
the  Spanish  officers,  drinking  and  card  playing,  or  im 
proving  their  dancing  and  Spanish  with  the  girls,  whose 
guitars  were  tuned  for  the  waltz  day  and  night.  The 
dignitaries  met  as  usual  and  conversed  on  all  topics 
save  those  paramount  in  the  minds  of  each.  Neverthe 
less,  there  were  three  significant  facts  as  well  known  to 
Rezanov  as  had  they  been  aired  to  his  liking. 

He  had  sought  an  interview  with  Father  Abella,  and 
tactfully  ignoring  the  question  of  his  marriage,  had  per 
suaded  that  astute  and  influential  priest  to  make  the 
proposition  regarding  his  cargo  that  Concha  had  sug 
gested.  The  priest,  backed  by  his  three  coadjutors,  had 
made  it,  and  been  repulsed  with  fury.  From  another 
quarter  Rezanov  learned  that  during  his  absence  little 
else  was  discussed  in  the  house  of  the  Commandante 
save  his  formidable  matrimonial  project,  and  the  sup 
posed  designs  of  his  country.  Troops  had  been  ordered 
from  the  south  to  reinforce  the  San  Francisco  garrisons, 
and  were  even  now  massed  at  Santa  Clara,  within  a  day 's 
march  of  the  bay. 

About  a  mile  from  the  Presidio  and  almost  opposite 
the  Juno's  anchorage  were  six  great  stone  tubs  sunken 
in  the  ground  and  filled  by  a  spring  of  clear  water. 
Here,  once  a  week,  the  linen,  fine  and  heavy,  of  Fort 
and  Presidio  was  washed,  the  stoutest  serving  women  of 

126 


REZANOV  127 

households  and  barracks  meeting  at  dawn  and  scrubbing 
for  half  a  day.  Rezanov  had  watched  the  bright  picture 
they  made — for  they  wore  a  bit  of  every  hue  they  could 
command — with  a  lazy  interest,  which  quickened  to 
thirst  when  he  heard  that  they  were  the  most  reliable 
newsmongers  in  the  country.  In  every  Presidial  dis 
trict  was  a  similar  institution,  and  the  four  were  known 
as  the  "Wash  Tub  Mail."  Many  of  the  women  were 
selected  by  the  tyrants  of  the  tubs  for  their  comeliness, 
and  each  had  a  lover  in  the  couriers  that  went  regularly 
with  mail  and  official  instructions  from  one  end  of  the 
Californias  to  the  other.  All  important  news  was  known 
first  by  these  women,  and  much  was  discussed  over  the 
tubs  that  was  long  in  reaching  higher  but  no  less  inter 
ested  circles;  and  domestic  bulletins  were  as  eagerly 
prized.  The  sailor  that  brought  this  information  to 
Rezanov  was  a  good-looking  and  susceptible  youth,  al 
ready  the  victim  of  an  Indian  maiden  from  the  hand 
some  tribe  in  the  Santa  Clara  valley  and  sister  of  Dona 
Ignacia  's  Malia.  Rezanov  furnished  him  with  beads  and 
other  trinkets,  and  was  at  no  disadvantage  thereafter. 

There  was  nothing  Rezanov  would  have  liked  better 
than  to  see  a  Russian  fleet  sail  through  the  straits,  but 
he  also  knew  that  nothing  was  less  likely,  and  that  from 
such  rumors  he  should  only  derive  further  annoyance 
and  delay.  Two  of  his  sailors  deserted  at  the  prospect 
of  war,  and  his  hosts,  if  neutral,  were  manifestly  alert. 
Luis  and  Santiago  had  been  obliged  to  go  to  Monterey 
for  a  few  days,  and  there  was  no  one  at  the  Presidio  in 
whom  Rezanov  could  confide  either  his  impatience  to 
see  Concha  or  at  the  adjournment  of  his  more  prosaic 
but  no  less  pressing  interests.  These  two  young  men 
had  been  with  him  almost  constantly  since  his  arrival, 
and  demonstrated  their  friendship  and  even  affection 
unfailingly ;  but  there  was  no  love  lost  between  himself 
and  Gervasio.  This  young  hidalgo  had  the  hauteur  and 
intense  family  pride  of  Santiago  without  his  younger 
brother's  frank  intelligence  and  lingering  ingenuous 
ness.  With  all  the  superiority  of  inferiority,  he  had 


128  REZANOV 

made  himself  so  unpopular  that  his  real  kindness  of 
heart  atoned  for  his  absurdities  only  with  those  that 
knew  him  best.  Rezanov  was  not  of  these  nor  aspired  to 
be.  Like  all  highly  seasoned  men  of  the  world,  he  had 
no  patience  with  the  small  vanities  of  the  provincial, 
and  although  diplomatically  courteous  to  all,  in  his 
present  precarious  position,  he  had  taken  too  little  trou 
ble  to  conciliate  Gervasio  to  find  him  of  use  in  the  ab 
sence  of  his  friends. 

At  the  end  of  three  days  Rezanov  had  forgotten  his 
cargo,  and  would  have  sent  the  Juno  to  the  bottom  for 
ten  minutes  alone  with  Concha.  He  had  been  on  fire  with 
love  of  her  since  the  moment  of  his  actual  surrender,  and 
he  was  determined  to  have  her  if  there  were  no  other 
resource  but  elopement.  All  his  old  and  intense  love 
of  personal  freedom  had  melted  out  of  form  in  the  cru 
cible  of  his  lover's  imagination.  That  he  should  have 
doubted  for  a  moment  that  Concha  was  the  woman  for 
whom  his  soul  had  held  itself  aloof  and  unshackled 
was  a  matter  for  contemptuous  wonder,  and  the  pride  he 
had  taken  in  his  keen  and  swift  perceptive  faculties  suf 
fered  an  eclipse.  Mind  and  soul  and  body  he  was  a 
lover,  a  union  unknown  before. 

On  the  fourth  morning,  his  patience  at  an  end,  he 
was  about  to  leave  the  Juno  to  demand  a  formal  inter 
view  with  Don  Jose"  when  he  saw  Luis  and  Santiago 
dismount  at  the  beach  and  enter  the  canoe  always  in 
waiting.  A  few  moments  later  they  had  helped  them 
selves  to  cigarettes  from  the  gift  of  the  Tsar  and  were 
assuring  Rezanov  of  their  partisanship  and  approval. 

"We  were  somewhat  taken  aback  at  the  first  moment," 
Luis  admitted.  "But — well,  we  are  both  in  love — San 
tiago  no  less  than  I,  although  I  have  had  these  six  long 
years  of  waiting  and  am  likely  to  have  another.  And 
we  love  Concha  as  few  men  love  their  sisters,  for  there 
is  no  one  like  her — is  it  not  so,  Rezanov  ?  And  we  quite 
understand  why  she  has  chosen  you,  and  why  she  stands 
firm,  for  we  know  the  strength  of  her  character.  We 
would  that  you  were  a  Catholic,  but  even  so,  we  will 


REZANOV  129 

not  sit  by  and  see  her  life  ruined,  and  we  have  called  to 
assure  you  that  we  shall  use  all  our  influence,  every 
adroit  argument,  to  bring  our  parents  to  a  more  reason 
able  frame  of  mind.  They  have  already  risen  above  the 
first  natural  impulse  of  selfishness,  and  would  consent 
to  the  inevitable  separation  were  you  only  a  Catholic. 
I  have  also  talked  with  the  Governor — we  arrived  at 
midnight — and  he  flew  into  a  terrible  temper — the  poor 
man  is  already  like  a  mad  bull  at  bay — but  if  my  father 
yielded,  he  would — on  all  points.  This  morning  I  shall 
ride  over  and  talk  with  Father  Abella,  who,  I  fancy, 
needs  only  a  little  extra  pressure — you  may  be  sure 
Concha  has  not  been  idle — to  yield;  and  for  more  rea 
sons  than  one.  I  shall  enlist  Father  Uria  and  Father 
de  la  Cueva  as  ^well.  They  also  have  great  influence 
with  my  parents,  and  as  they  return  to  San  Jose  in  two 
days  to  prepare  for  the  visit  of  the  most  estimable  Dr. 
Langsdorff,  there  is  no  time  to  lose.  I  shall  go  this 
morning.  One  more  cigarito,  senor,  and  when  that  treaty 
is  drawn  remember  the  conversion  of  your  brother  to 
Russian  tobacco." 

Rezanov  thanked  him  so  warmly,  assured  him  with 
so  convincing  an  emphasis  that  with  his  fate  in  such 
competent  hands  his  mind  was  at  peace,  that  the  ardent 
heart  of  the  Californian  exulted ;  Rezanov,  with  his  splen 
did  appearance,  and  typical  of  the  highest  civilizations 
of  Europe,  had  descended  upon  his  narrow  sphere  with 
the  authority  of  a  demigod,  and  he  not  only  thirsted  to 
serve  him,  but  to  fasten  him  to  California  with  the 
surest  of  human  bonds. 

As  he  dropped  over  the  side  of  the  ship,  Rezanov 's 
hand  fell  lightly  on  the  shoulder  of  Santiago. 

"I  can  wait  no  longer  to  see  your  sister,"  he  whis 
pered,  mindful  of  the  sterner  responsibilities  of  the  older 
brother.  "Do  you  think  you  could " 

Santiago  nodded.  "While  Luis  is  at  the  Mission  I 
shall  go  to  my  cousin  Juan  Moraga's.  You  will  dine 
with  us  at  the  Presidio,  and  I  shall  escort  you  back  to 
the  shit)  " 


XIX 

IT  was  ten  o'clock  when  Rezanov,  who  had  supped  on 
the  Juno,  met  Santiago  in  a  sandy  valley  half  a  mile 
from  the  Presidio  and  mounted  the  horse  his  young 
friend  himself  had  saddled  and  brought.  The  long  ride 
was  a  silent  one.  The  youth  was  not  talkative  at  any 
time,  and  Rezanov  was  conscious  of  little  else  save  an 
overwhelming  desire  to  see  Concha  again.  One  secret 
of  his  success  in  life  was  his  gift  of  yielding  to  one 
energy  at  a  time,  oblivious  at  the  moment  to  aught  that 
might  distract  or  enfeeble  the  will.  To-night,  as  he  rode 
toward  the  Mission  on  as  romantic  a  quest  as  ever  came 
the  way  of  a  lover,  the  diplomat,  the  anxious  director  of 
a  great  Company,  the  representative  of  one  of  the  mighty 
potentates  of  earth,  were  submerged,  forgotten,  in  the 
thrilling  anticipation  of  his  hour  with  the  woman  for 
whom  every  fiber  of  his  being  yearned. 

Nor  ever  was  there  more  appropriate  a  setting  for 
one  of  those  inaugural  chapters  in  mating,  half  appre 
ciated  at  the  time,  that  glimmer  as  a  sort  of  morning 
twilight  on  mountain  tops  over  the  mild  undulations  of 
matrimony.  The  moon  rode  without  a  masking  cloud 
across  the  ambiguous  night  blue  of  the  California  sky, 
a  blue  that  looks  like  the  fire  of  strange  elements,  where 
the  stars  glow  like  silver  coals,  and  out  of  whose  depths 
intense  shadows  of  blue  and  black  fall ;  shadows  in  which 
all  the  under  world  seems  to  float  and  recombine,  where 
houses  are  ghosts  of  ancient  selves  and  men  but  the 
eidola  of  forgotten  dust.  To-night  the  little  estate  of 
Juan  Moraga,  the  most  isolated  and  eastern  of  the  set 
tlement,  surrounded  by  its  high  white  wall,  looked  as 
unreal  and  formless  as  the  blue  oval  of  water  and  black 
trees  behind  it,  but  Rezanov  knew  that  it  enfolded  warm 

130 


REZANOV  131 

and  palpitating  womanhood  and  was  steeped  in  the 
sweetness  of  Castilian  roses. 

The  riders,  who  had  taken  a  path  far  to  the  east  of 
the  Mission,  dismounted  and  tied  their  horses  among 
the  willows,  then,  in  their  dark  cloaks  but  a  part  of  the 
shadows,  stole  toward  the  wall  designed  to  impress  hos 
tile  tribes  rather  than  to  resist  an  onslaught;  at  the 
first  warning  the  settlement  invariably  fled  to  the  church 
where  walls  were  massive  and  windows  high. 

In  three  of  Moraga  's  four  walls  was  a  grille,  or  wicket 
of  slender  iron  bars,  whence  the  open  could  be  swept 
with  glass,  or  gun  at  a  pinch ;  and  for  the  grille  looking 
eastward  went  Rezanov  as  swiftly  as  the  uneven  ground 
would  permit.  As  Concha  watched  him  gather  form 
in  the  moonlight  and  saw  him  jerk  his  cloak  off  impa 
tiently,  she  flung  her  soft  body  against  the  wall  and 
shook  the  bars  with  her  strong  little  hands.  But  when 
he  faced  her  she  was  erect  and  smiling;  in  a  sudden 
uprush  of  spirits,  almost  indifferent.  She  wore  a  white 
gown  and  a  rose  in  her  hair.  A  rosebush  as  dense  as  an 
arbor  spread  its  prickly  arms  between  herself  and  the 
windows  of  the  house. 

' '  Good-evening, ' '  she  whispered. 

Rezanov  gave  the  grille  an  angry  shake.  (Santiago 
had  considerately  retired.)  "Come  out,"  he  said  per 
emptorily,  "or  let  me  in." 

"There  is  but  one  gate,  sefior,  and  that  is  directly 
in  front  of  the  house  door,  that  stands  open " 

"Then  I  shall  get  over  the  wall " 

"Madre  de  Dios!  You  would  reave  your  fine  clothes 
and  more  on  the  thorns.  My  cousin  planted  those  roses 
not  for  ornament,  but  to  let  the  blood  of  defiant  lovers. 
Not  one  has  come  twice " 

"Do  you  think  I  came  here  to  talk  to  you  through  a 
grating?  I  am  no  serenading  Spaniard." 

His  eyes  were  blazing.  Adobe  is  not  stone.  Rezanov 
took  the  light  bars  in  both  hands  and  wrenched  them 
out;  then,  as  Concha,  divided  between  laughter  and  a 
sudden  timidity,  would  have  retreated,  he  dexterously 


132  REZANOV 

clasped  her  neck  and  drew  her  head  through  the  em 
brasure.  As  Santiago,  who  had  watched  Rezanov  from 
a  distance  with  some  curiosity,  saw  his  sister's  beautiful 
face  emerge  from  the  wall  to  disappear  at  once  behind 
another  rampart,  he  turned  abruptly  on  his  heel  and 
could  have  wept  as  he  thought  of  Pilar  Ortego  of  Santa 
Barbara.  But  there  was  a  hope  that  he  would  be  a 
cadet  of  the  Southern  Company  before  the  year  was 
out,  and  his  parents  and  hers  were  indulgent.  Even 
as  he  sighed,  his  own  impending  happiness  infused  him 
with  an  almost  patronizing  sympathy  for  the  twain  with 
the  wall  between,  and  he  concealed  himself  among  the 
willows  that  they  might  feel  to  the  full  the  blessed  isola 
tion  of  lovers.  His  Pilar  presented  him  with  twenty- 
two  hostages,  and  he  lived  to  enjoy  an  honorable  and  a 
prosperous  career,  but  he  never  forgot  that  night  and  the 
part  he  had  played  in  one  of  the  poignant  and  happy 
hours  of  his  sister's  life. 

Day  and  night  a  great  silence  reigned  in  the  Mission 
valley,  broken  only  by  the  hoot  of  the  owl,  the  singing 
of  birds,  the  flight  of  horses  across  the  plain.  Even  the 
low  huddle  of  Mission  buildings  and  the  few  homes 
beyond  looked  an  anomaly  in  that  vast  quiet  valley 
asleep  and  unknown  for  so  many  centuries  in  the  wide 
embrace  of  the  hills.  Its  jewel  oasis  alone  made  it 
acceptable  to  the  Spaniard,  but  to  Rezanov  the  sandy 
desert,  with  its  close  companionable  silences,  its  cool 
night  air  sweet  with  the  light  chaste  fragrance  of  the 
roses,  the  simple,  almost  primitive,  conditions  environ 
ing  the  girl,  possessed  a  power  to  stir  the  depths  of  his 
emotions  as  no  artful  reinforcement  to  passion  had  ever 
done.  He  forgot  the  wall.  His  ego  melted  in  a  sense 
of  complete  union  and  happiness.  Even  when  they 
returned  to  earth  and  discussed  the  dubious  future,  he 
was  conscious  of  an  odd  resignation,  very  alien  in  his 
nature,  not  only  to  the  barrier  but  to  all  the  strange 
conditions  of  his  wooing.  He  had  felt  something  of  this 
before,  although  less  definitely,  and  to-night  he  con 
cluded  that  she  had  the  gift  of  clothing  the  inevitable 


REZANOV  133 

with  the  semblance  and  the  sweetness  of  choice;  and 
wondered  how  long  it  would  be  able  to  skirt  the  arid 
steppes  of  philosophy. 

She  told  him  that  she  had  talked  daily  with  Father 
Abella.  "He  will  say  nothing  to  admit  he  is  weaken 
ing,  but  I  feel  sure  he  has  realized  not  only  that  our 
marriage  will  be  for  the  best  interests  of  California,  but 
that  to  forbid  it  would  wreck  my  life;  and  from  this 
responsibility  he  shrinks.  I  can  see  it  in  his  kind, 
shrewd,  perplexed  eyes,  in  the  hesitating  inflections  of 
his  voice,  to  say  nothing  of  the  poor  arguments  he 
advances  to  mine.  What  of  my  father  and  mother?" 

"They  look  troubled,  almost  ill,  but  nothing  could 
exceed  their  kindness  to  me,  although  they  have  point 
edly  given  me  no  opportunity  to  introduce  the  subject 
of  our  marriage  again.  The  Governor  makes  no  sign 
that  he  knows  of  any  aspiration  of  mine  above  corn, 
but  he  informed  me  to-day  that  California  is  doomed 
to  abandonment,  that  the  Indians  are  hopeless,  that 
Spain  will  withdraw  troops  before  she  will  send  others, 
and  that  the  country  will  either  revert  to  savagery 
or  fall  a  prey  to  the  first  enterprising  outsider.  As 
he  was  in  comparison  cheerful  before,  I  fancy  he  ap 
prehends  the  irresistible  appeal  of  your  father's  sur 
render.  ' ' 

Concha  nodded.  "If  my  father  yields  he  will  see 
that  you  have  everything  else  that  you  wish.  He  may 
have  advocated  meeting  your  wishes  in  other  respects 
in  order  to  leave  you  without  excuse  to  linger,  but  that 
argument  is  not  strong  enough  for  the  Governor,  whereas 
if  he  made  up  his  mind  to  accept  you  as  a  son  he 
would  throw  the  whole  force  of  his  character  and  will 
into  the  scale ;  and  when  he  reaches  that  pitch  he  wins — 
with  men.  I  must,  must  bring  you  good  fortune,"  she 
added  anxiously.  "Marriage  with  a  little  California 
girl — are  you  sure  it  will  not  ruin  your  career?" 

"I  can  think  of  nothing  that  would  advantage  it 
more.  What  are  you  going  to  call  me?" 

"I   cannot   say   Petrovich   or   Nicolai — my   Spanish 


134  REZANOV 

tongue  rebels.  I  shall  call  you  Pedro.  That  is  a  very 
pretty  name  with  us." 

"My  own  harsh  names  suit  my  battered  self  rather 
better,  but  the  more  Californian  you  are  and  remain 
the  happier  I  shall  be.  When  am  I  to  see  your  ears? 
Are  they  deformed,  pointed  and  furry  like  a  fawn's? 
Do  they  stand  out?  Were  all  the  women  of  California 
tattooed  in  some  Indian  raid " 

Concha  glanced  about  apprehensively,  but  not  even 
Santiago  was  there  to  see  the  dreadful  deed.  With  a 
defiant  sweep  of  her  hands  she  lifted  both  loops  of 
hair,  and  two  little  ears,  rosy  even  in  the  moonlight, 
commanded  amends  and  more  from  penitent  lips. 

"No  man  has  ever  seen  them  before — since  I  was  a 
baby;  not  even  my  father  and  brothers,"  said  Concha, 
trembling  between  horror  and  rapture  at  the  tremendous 
surrender.  "You  will  never  remind  me  of  it.  Ay  yi! 
promise — Pedro  mio!" 

"On  condition  that  you  promise  not  to  confess  it. 
I  should  like  to  be  sure  that  your  mind  belonged  as 
much  to  me  and  as  little  to  others  as  possible.  I  do 
not  object  to  confession — we  have  it  in  our  church; 
but  remember  that  there  are  other  things  as  sacred  as 
your  religion." 

She  nodded.  "I  understand — better  than  you  under 
stand  Romanism.  I  must  confess  that  I  met  you  to 
night,  but  Father  Abella  is  too  discreet  to  ask  for  more. 
It  is  such  blessed  memories  that  feed  the  soul,  and  they 
would  fly  away  on  a  whisper." 


XX 

THE  next  morning  Father  Abella  rode  over  to  the 
Presidio  and  was  closeted  for  an  hour  with  the  Com- 
mandante  and  the  Governor.  Then  the  three  rode  down 
to  the  beach,  entered  a  canoe,  and  paddled  out  to  the 
Juno.  Rezanov  met  them  on  deck  with  a  gravity  as 
significant  as  their  own,  but  led  them  at  once  to  the 
cabin  where  wine,  and  the  cigarettes  for  which  alone 
they  would  have  counselled  the  treaty,  awaited  them. 

The  quartette  pledged  each  other  in  an  embarrassed 
silence,  disposed*  of  a  moment  more  with  obdurate 
matches.  Don  Jose  inhaled  audibly,  then  lifted  his  eyes 
and  met  the  veiled  and  steady  gaze  of  the  Russian. 

"Sefior,"  he  said,  "I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  I 
consent  to  your  marriage  with  my  daughter." 

' '  Thank  you, ' '  said  Rezanov.  And  their  hands  clasped 
across  the  table. 

But  this  was  far  too  simple  for  the  taste  of  a  Governor. 
So  important  an  occasion  demanded  official  dignity  and 
many  words. 

"Your  excellency,"  he  said  severely,  sitting  very 
erect,  with  one  white  hand  on  the  table  and  the  other 
on  the  hilt  of  his  sword  (yet  full  of  courtesy,  and 
longing  to  enjoy  the  cheer  and  conversation  of  his  host) ; 
''the  peaceful  monotony  of  our  lives  has  been  rudely 
shaken  by  a  demand  upon  three  fallible  human  beings 
to  alter  the  course  of  history  in  two  great  nations.  That 
is  a  sufficient  excuse  for  the  suspense  to  which  we  have 
been  forced  to  subject  you.  The  marriage  of  a  Russian 
and  a  Spaniard  is  of  no  great  moment  in  itself,  but 
the  marriage  of  the  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Tsar  himself 
with  the  daughter  of  Jose  Dario  Argiiello,  not  only  one 
of  the  most  eminent,  respected,  and  distinguished  of  His 

135 


136  REZANOV 

Most  Catholic  Majesty's  subjects  in  New  Spain,  but  a 
man  so  beloved  and  influential  that  he  could  create  a  rev 
olution  were  he  so  minded — indeed,  Jose,  no  one  knows 
better  than  I  how  incapable  you  are  of  treason" — as 
the  Commandante  gave  a  loud  exclamation  of  horror — 
"I  merely  illustrate  and  emphasize.  My  sands  are 
nearly  run,  Excellency ;  it  is  to  the  estimable  mind  and 
strong  paternal  hand  of  my  friend  that  this  miserable 
colony  must  look  before  long,  would  she  continue  even 
this  hand  to  mouth  existence — a  fact  well  known  to  our 
king  and  natural  lord.  When  he  hears  of  this  projected 
alliance " 

"Projected?"  exclaimed  Rezanov.  "I  wish  to  marry 
at  once." 

Father  Abella  shook  his  head  vigorously,  but  he 
spoke  with  great  kindness.  "That,  Excellency,  alas,  is 
the  one  point  upon  which  we  are  forced  to  disappoint 
you.  Indeed,  our  own  submission  to  your  wishes  is  con 
tingent.  This  marriage  cannot  take  place  without  a 
dispensation  from  Home  and  the  consent  of  the  King." 

Rezanov  looked  at  Don  Jose.  "You  too?"  he  asked 
curtly. 

The  Commandante  stirred  uneasily,  heaved  a  deep 
sigh ;  he  thought  of  the  long  impatience  of  his  Concha. 
"It  is  true,"  he  said.  "Not  only  would  it  be  impossible 
for  my  conscience  to  resign  itself  to  the  marriage  of 
my  daughter  with  a  heretic — pardon,  Excellency — 
without  the  blessing  of  the  Pope;  not  only  would  no 
priest  in  California  perform  the  ceremony  until  it  ar 
rived,  but  it  would  mean  the  degradation  of  Governor 
Arrillaga  and  myself,  and  the  ruin  of  all  your  other 
hopes.  We  should  be  ordered  summarily  to  Mexico, 
perhaps  worse,  and  no  Russian  would  ever  be  permitted 
to  set  foot  in  the  Californias  again.  I  would  it  were 
otherwise.  I  know — I  know — but  it  is  inevitable.  Your 
excellency  must  see  it.  Even  were  you  a  Catholic,  Gover 
nor  Arrillaga  and  the  President  of  the  Missions,  at  least, 
would  not  dare  to  countenance  this  marriage  without 
the  consent  of  the  King." 


REZANOV  137 

Rezanov  was  silent  for  a  few  minutes.  In  spite  of 
the  emotions  of  the  past  few  days  he  was  astonished 
at  the  depth  and  keenness  of  his  disappointment.  But 
never  yet  had  he  failed  to  realize  when  he  was  beaten, 
nor  to  trim  his  sails  without  loss  of  precious  time. 

"Very  well,"  he  said.  "I  will  go  to  St.  Petersburg 
at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  obtain  personal  letters 
from  the  Tsar  and  proceed  post  haste  to  Rome  and 
Madrid.  At  the  same  time  I  shall  arrange  for  the 
treaty  with  full  authority  from  the  Tsar.  Then  I  shall 
sail  from  Spain  to  Mexico  and  reach  here  as  soon  as 
may  be.  It  will  take  a  long  while,  the  best  part  of  two 
years;  but  I  have  your  word " 

' '  You  have, ' '  the  three  asserted  with  solemn  emphasis. 

"Very  well.  But  there  is  one  thing  more.  I  am  not 
in  a  diplomatic  Tmmor.  My  Sitkans  are  starving.  I 
must  leave  here  with  a  shipload  of  breadstuffs." 

Again  the  Governor  drew  up  his  slim  soldierly  figure ; 
deposited  his  cigarette  on  the  malachite  ash  tray.  ' '  You 
may  be  sure  that  we  have  given  that  momentous  ques 
tion  our  deepest  consideration.  Father  Abella's  sugges 
tion  that  we  buy  your  commodities  for  cash,  and  that 
with  our  Spanish  dollars  you  buy  again  of  us,  did  not 
strike  me  favorably  at  first,  for  it  savored  of  sophistry. 
I  may  have  failed  in  every  attempt  to  benefit  and  ad 
vance  this  Godforsaken  country,  but  at  least  I  have  been 
the  honest  agent  of  my  King.  But  the  circumstances 
are  extraordinary.  You  are  about  to  become  one  of  us, 
to  do  our  unhappy  colony  the  greatest  service  that  is 
in  the  power  of  any  mortal,  and  personally  you  have 
inspired  us  with  affection  and  respect.  I  have  there 
fore  decided  that  the  exchange  shall  be  made  on  these 
terms,  but  that  your  cargo  shalL  be  received  by  Don 
Jose  Argiiello,  Commandante  of  the  San  Francisco  Com 
pany,  and  held  in  trust  until  the  formal  consent  of  the 
King  to  the  purchase  shall  arrive." 

Rezanov  glowed  to  his  finger  tips.  Not  even  the  as 
surance  of  his  union  with  the  woman  of  his  heart,  which 
after  all  had  met  but  the  skeleton  of  his  desires,  gave 


138  REZANOV 

him  the  acute  satisfaction  of  this  sudden  fulfilment  of 
his  self-imposed  mission.  He  dropped  his  own  offi 
cial  demeanor  and  throwing  himself  across  the  table 
gripped  the  Governor's  hand  while  he  poured  out  his 
thanks  in  a  voice  thick  with  feeling,  his  eyes  glittering 
with  more  than  victory.  He  did  not  lose  sight  of  his 
ultimate  designs  and  pledge  himself  to  eternal  friend 
ship,  but  he  unwittingly  conveyed  the  impression  that 
Spain  had  that  day  made  a  friend  she  ill  could  afford 
to  lose ;  and  his  three  visitors  rose  well  pleased  with  the 
culmination  of  the  interview. 

"You  must  stay  here  no  longer,  Rezanov,"  said  Don 
Jose,  as  they  were  taking  leave.  "My  house  is  now 
literally  your  own.  It  will  be  some  weeks  before  the 
large  quantities  of  corn  and  flour  and  other  stores  you 
wish  can  be  got  together — for  we  must  lay  a  requisition 
on  the  fertile  Mission  ranches  in  the  valleys — and  you 
will  exchange  these  narrow  quarters  for  such  poor  com 
fort  as  my  house  affords — I  take  no  denial.  Concha  will 
remain  at  Juan  Moraga's  for  the  present." 


XXI 

CONCHA,  after  her  father  left  her,  sat  for  a  long  while 
in  an  attitude  of  such  complete  repose  that  Sturgis, 
watching  her  miserably  from  the  veranda,  remembered 
the  consolations  of  his  sketch  book;  and  he  was  able  to 
counterfeit  the  graceful  proud  figure,  under  the  wall  and 
the  roses,  before  she  stirred. 

Concha  had  sent  her  father  away  deeply  puzzled. 
When,  after  embracing  her  with  unusual  emotion,  he 
had  informed  her  of  his  consent  to  her  marriage,  she 
had  received  the  news  as  a  matter  of  course,  her  hopes 
and  desires  having  mounted  too  high  to  contemplate  a 
fall.     Then  the  Commandante,  after  dwelling  at  some 
length  upon  his  discussions  with  the  Governor  and  the 
priests,  and  admonishing  her  against  conceiving  herself 
too  important  a  factor  in  what  might  prove  to  be  an 
alliance  of  international  moment  (she  had  laughed  mer 
rily  and  called  him  the  most  callous  of  parents  and 
subtlest  of  diplomats),  had  announced  with  some  trepi 
dation  and  his  most  official  manner  that  the  consent  of 
the  Pope  and  the  King  would  be  sought  by  Rezanov 
in  person,  involving  a  delay  and  separation  of  not  less 
than  two  years.     But  to  his  surprise  she  did  not  fling 
herself  upon  his  neck  with  blandishments  and  tears. 
She  merely  became  quite  still,  her  light  high  spirits  re 
treating  as  a  breeze  might  before  one  of  Nature 's  sudden 
and  portentous  calms.     Don  Jose,  after  a  fruitless  at 
tempt  to  recapture  her  interest,  mounted  his  horse  and 
rode  away ;  and  Concha  sat  down  on  a  bench  under  the 
wall  and  thought  for  an  hour  without  moving  a  finger. 
Her  first  sensation  was  one  of  bitter  anger  and  dis 
appointment  with  Rezanov.     He  had,  apparently,  in 

139 


140  REZANOV 

the  first  brief  interview  with  their  tribunal,  given  his 
consent  to  this  long  delay  of  their  nuptials. 

Her  thoughts  since  his  advent  had  flown  on  many 
journeys  and  known  little  rest.  She  had  been  rudely 
awakened  and  stripped  of  her  girlish  illusions  in  those 
days  and  nights  of  battle  between  pride  and  her  dazzled 
womanhood  when,  in  the  new  humility  of  love,  she 
believed  herself  to  be  but  one  of  a  hundred  pretty  girls 
in  the  eyes  of  this  accomplished  and  fortunate  Russian. 
The  interval  had  been  brief,  but  long  enough  for  the 
grandeur  in  her  nature  to  awaken  almost  concurrently 
with  her  passions,  and  she  had  planned  a  life,  in  which, 
guided  and  uplifted  by  the  star  of  fidelity,  and  delivered 
from  the  frivolous  and  commonplace  temptations  of 
other  women,  she  should  devote  herself  to  the  improve 
ment  and  instruction  not  only  of  the  Indians  but  of  the 
youth  of  her  own  class.  The  schools  founded  by  the 
estimable  and  enterprising  Borica  had  practically  disap 
peared,  and  she  was  by  far  the  best  educated  woman  in 
California.  For  such  there  was  a  manifest  career  and 
an  inexorable  duty.  She  would  live  to  be  old,  she  sup 
posed,  like  all  the  Argiiellos  and  Moragas;  but  hidden 
in  her  unspotted  soul  would  be  the  flame  of  eternal 
youth,  fed  by  an  ideal  and  a  memory  that  would  outlive 
her  weary  insignificant  body.  And  in  it  she  would  find 
her  courage  and  her  inspiration  as  well  as  an  unwasting 
sympathy  for  those  she  taught. 

Then  had  come  the  sudden  and  passionate  wooing  of 
Rezanov.  All  other  ideals  and  aspirations  had  fled.  She 
had  alternated  between  the  tragic  extremes  of  bliss  and 
despair.  So  completely  did  the  ardor  of  her  nature 
respond  to  his,  so  fierce  and  primitive  was  the  cry  of 
her  ego  for  its  mate,  that  she  cared  nothing  for  the 
distress  of  her  parents  nor  the  fate  of  California.  There 
is  no  love  complete  without  this  early  and  absolute 
selfishness,  which  is  merely  the  furious  determination  of 
the  race  to  accomplish  its  object  before  the  spirit  awakens 
and  the  passions  cool. 

Last  night  life  had  seemed  less  serious ;  she  had  been 


REZANOV  141 

girlishly,  romantically  happy.  It  is  true  that  her  heart 
had  thumped  against  the  wall  as  he  kissed  her,  and  that 
she  had  been  full  of  a  wild  desire  to  sing,  although  she 
could  hardly  shape  and  utter  the  words  that  danced  in 
her  throbbing  brain.  But  she  had  been  conscious 
through  it  all  of  the  romantic  circumstance,  of  the 
lonely  beauty  of  the  night,  of  the  delightful  wicked 
ness  of  meeting  her  lover  in  the  silence  and  the  dark, 
even  with  a  wall  ten  feet  high  between  them.  For  the 
wall,  indeed,  she  had  been  confusedly  and  deliciously 
grateful. 

And  this  was  what  a  man's  love  came  to:  ardors 
by  night  and  expedience  by  day !  Or  was  it  merely  that 
Rezanov  was  the  man  of  affairs  always,  the  lover  inci 
dentally?  But  how  could  a  man  who  had  seemed  the 
very  epitome  of*  all  the  lovers  of  all  the  world  but  a 
few  hours  before,  contemplate,  far  less  permit,  a  sepa 
ration  of  years  ?  Poor  Concha  groped  toward  the  great 
unacceptable  fact  of  life  the  whole,  lit  by  love  its 
chief  incident;  and  had  a  fleeting  vision  of  the  waste 
lands  in  the  lives  of  women  occupied  only  with  matri 
mony.  But  she  dropped  her  lashes  upon  this  unalluring 
vision,  and  as  she  did  so,  inevitably  she  began  to  excuse 
the  man. 

None  knew  better  than  she  every  side  of  the  great 
question  that  was  shaking  not  only  her  life  but  Cali 
fornia  itself.  Appeal  from  the  dictum  of  state  and 
clergy  would  be  a  mere  waste  of  time.  The  only  alter 
native  was  flight.  That  would  mean  the  wreck  of  Re 
zanov  's  avowed  purposes  in  coming  to  this  quarter  of 
New  Spain,  and  perhaps  of  others  she  dimly  suspected. 
It  would  mean  the  very  acme  of  misery  for  his  Sitkans, 
and  an  indefensible  blow  to  the  Company.  It  might  even 
prove  the  fatal  mistake  in  his  career,  for  which  his 
enemies  were  ever  on  the  alert.  He  was  not  communi 
cative  about  himself  except  when  he  had  an  object  in 
view,  but  he  had  told  her  something  of  his  life,  and  his 
officers  and  Langsdorff  had  told  more.  He  was  no  silly 
caballero  warbling  and  thrumming  at  her  grating  when 


142  REZANOV 

she  longed  for  sleep,  but  a  man  in  his  forties  whose 
passions  were  in  the  leash  of  a  remarkably  acute  and 
ambitious  brain.  She  even  thrilled  with  pride  in  his 
strength,  for  she  knew  how  he  loved  her;  and  although 
his  part  was  action,  her  stimulated  instincts  taught  her 
that  she  would  rarely  be  long  from  his  mind.  And  what 
was  she  to  seek  to  roll  stumbling  blocks  into  the  career 
of  a  man  like  that  ?  In  this  very  garden,  for  four  long 
days,  she  had  dreamed  exalted  dreams  of  the  manifold 
gifts  she  should  develop  both  for  his  solace  at  home  and 
his  worldly  advancement.  She  had  once  felt  all  a  girl's 
impatience  when  her  mother's  tears  made  her  father's 
departure  on  some  distant  mission  more  difficult  than 
need  be,  and  although  she  knew  now  that  her  capacity 
for  tenderness  was  as  great,  she  resolved  to  mould  her 
self  in  a  larger  shape  than  that. 

But  she  sighed  and  drooped  a  little.  The  burden  of 
woman 's  waiting  seemed  already  to  have  descended  upon 
her.  Two  years  were  long — long.  There  might  be  other 
delays.  He  might  fall  ill;  he  had  been  ill  before  in 
that  barbarous  Russian  north.  And  in  all  that  time  it 
was  doubtful  if  she  received  a  line  from  him,  a  hint 
of  his  welfare.  The  Boston  and  British  skippers  came 
no  more,  and  it  was  certain  that  no  Russian  ship  would 
visit  California  again  until  the  treaty  was  signed  and 
official  news  of  it  had  made  its  slow  way  to  these  utter 
most  shores.  She  had  resented,  in  her  young  ambition 
and  indocility,  the  chance  that  had  stranded  her, 
equipped  for  civilization,  on  this  rim  of  the  world,  but 
never  so  much  as  in  that  moment,  when  she  sat  with 
arrested  breath  and  realized  to  the  full  the  primitive 
conditions  of  a  country  thousands  of  miles  from  the 
very  outposts  of  Europe,  and  with  never  the  sight  of  a 
letter  that  did  not  come  from  Spain  or  one  of  her 
colonies. 

"Would  that  we  lived  a  generation  later,"  she 
thought  with  a  heavy  sigh.  "Progress  is  almost  auto 
matic,  and  to  a  land  as  fertile  and  desirable  as  this 


REZANOV  143 

the  stream  must  turn  in  due  course.  But  not  in  my 
time.  Not  in  my  time." 

She  rose  and  leaned  her  elbows  in  the  embrasure  of 
the  grille,  where  Santiago  had  restored  the  bars,  and 
looked  out  over  the  fields  of  grain  planted  by  the  padres, 
the  immense  sand  dunes  beyond  that  shut  the  lovely  bay 
from  sight;  the  hills  embracing  the  primitive  scene  in  a 
frowning  arc.  "With  all  her  imagination  it  was  long 
before  she  could  picture  a  great  city  covering  that 
immense  and  almost  desert  space.  A  pueblo  in  time, 
perhaps,  for  Rezanov  had  awakened  her  mind  to  the 
importance  of  the  harbor  as  a  port  of  call.  Many  more 
adobe  homes  where  the  sand  was  not  hot  and  shifting, 
a  few  ships  in  the  bay  when  Spain  had  been  compelled 
to  relax  her  jealous  vigilance — or — who  knew? — per 
haps! — a  flourishing  colony  when  the  Russian  bear  had 
devoured  the  Spanish  lion.  She  knew  something  and 
suspected  more  of  the  rottenness  and  inefficiency  of 
Spain,  and,  were  Russia  a  nation  of  Rezanovs,  what  op 
position  in  California  against  the  tide  thundering  down 
from  the  north?  Then,  perhaps,  the  city  that  had 
travelled  from  the  brain  of  the  Russian  to  hers  when 
the  fog  had  rolled  over  the  heights;  the  towers  and 
palaces  and  bazaars,  the  thousand  little  golden  domes 
with  the  slender  cross  atop ;  the  forts  on  the  crags  and 
the  villas  in  the  hollows,  and  on  all  the  island  and  hills. 
But  when  she  and  her  lover  were  dust.  When  she  and 
her  lover  were  dust. 

But  she  was  too  young  and  too  ardent  to  listen  long 
to  the  ravens  of  the  spirit.  Two  years  are  not  eternity, 
and  in  happiness  the  past  rolls  together  like  a  scroll 
and  is  naught.  She  fell  to  dreaming.  Her  lips  that 
had  been  set  with  the  gravity  of  stone  relaxed  in  warm 
curves.  The  color  came  back  to  her  cheek,  the  light  to 
her  eyes.  She  was  a  girl  at  her  grating  with  the  roses 
poignant  above  her,  and  the  world,  radiant,  alluring, 
and  all  for  her,  swimming  in  the  violet  haze  beyond. 


XXII 

REZANOV  in  those  days  was  literally  lord  and  master 
at  the  Presidio.  If  he  did  not  burn  the  house  of  his 
devoted  host  he  ran  it  to  suit  himself.  He  turned  one 
of  its  rooms  into  an  office,  where  he  received  the  envoys 
from  the  different  Missions  and  examined  the  samples 
of  everything  submitted  to  him,  trusting  little  to  his 
commissary.  His  leisure  he  employed  scouring  the  coun 
try  or  shooting  deer  and  quail  in  the  company  of  his 
younger  hosts.  The  literal  mind  of  Don  Jose  accepted 
him  as  an  actual  son  and  embryonic  Californian,  and, 
his  conscience  at  peace,  revelled  in  his  society  as  a  sign 
from  propitiated  heaven;  rejoicing  in  the  virtue  of  his 
years.  The  Governor,  testily  remarking  that  as  Califor 
nia  was  so  well  governed  for  the  present  he  would  retire 
to  Monterey  and  take  a  siesta,  rode  off  one  morning, 
but  not  without  an  affectionate :  ' '  God  preserve  the  life 
of  your  excellency  many  years." 

But  although  Rezanov  saw  the  most  sanguine  hopes 
that  had  brought  him  to  California  fulfilled,  and  al 
though  he  looked  from  the  mountain  ridges  of  the  east 
over  the  great  low  valleys  watered  by  rivers  and  shaded 
by  oaks,  where  enough  grain  could  be  raised  to  keep 
the  blood  red  in  a  thousand  times  the  colonial  popula 
tion  of  Russia,  although  he  felt  himself  in  more  and 
more  abundant  health,  more  and  more  in  love  with  life, 
it  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  he  was  satis 
fied.  Concha  he  barely  saw.  She  remained  with  the 
Moragas,  and  although  she  came  occasionally  to  the 
afternoon  dances  at  the  Presidio,  and  he  had  dined  once 
at  her  cousin's  house,  where  the  formal  betrothal  had 
taken  place  and  the  marriage  contract  had  been  signed 
in  the  presence  of  her  family  and  more  intimate  friends, 

144 


REZANOV  145 

the  priests,  his  officers,  and  the  Governor,  he  had  not 
spoken  with  her  for  a  moment  alone.  Nor  had  her  eyes 
met  his  in  a  glance  of  understanding.  At  the  dances 
she  showed  him  no  favor;  and  as  the  engagement  was 
to  be  as  secret  as  might  be  in  that  small  community, 
until  his  return  with  consent  of  Pope  and  King,  he  was 
forced  to  concede  that  her  conduct  was  irreproachable; 
but  when  on  the  day  of  the  betrothal  she  was  oblivious 
to  his  efforts  to  draw  her  into  the  garden,  he  mounted 
his  horse  and  rode  off  in  a  huff. 

The  truth  was  that  Concha  liked  the  present  arrange 
ment  no  better  than  himself,  and  knowing  that  her  own 
appeal  against  the  proprieties  would  result  in  a  deeper 
seclusion,  she  determined  to  goad  him  into  using  every 
resource  of  address  and  subtlety  to  bring  about  a  more 
human  state  of  affairs.  And  she  accomplished  her  ob 
ject.  Rezanov,  at  the  end  of  a  week,  was  not  only 
infuriated  but  alarmed.  He  knew  the  imagination  of 
woman,  and  guessed  that  Concha,  in  her  brooding  soli 
tude,  distorted  all  that  was  unfortunate  in  the  present 
and  dwelt  morbidly  on  the  future.  He  knew  that  she 
must  resent  his  part  in  the  long  separation,  no  doubt 
his  lack  of  impulsiveness  in  not  proposing  elopement. 
There  was  a  priest  in  his  company  who,  although  he  ate 
below  the  salt  and  found  his  associates  among  the  sailors, 
could  have  performed  the  ceremony  of  marriage  when 
the  Juno,  under  full  sail  in  the  night,  was  scudding  for 
the  Russian  north.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  this 
romantic  alternative  appealed  to  Rezanov,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  starving  wretches  so  eagerly  awaiting 
his  coming  he  might  have  been  tempted  to  throw  com 
mercial  relations  to  the  winds  and  flee  with  his  bride 
while  San  Francisco,  secure  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
Juno's  empty  hold,  was  in  its  first  heavy  sleep.  It  is 
doubtful  if  he  would  have  advanced  beyond  impulse, 
for  Rezanov  was  not  the  man  to  lose  sight  of  a  purpose 
to  which  he  had  set  the  full  strength  of  his  talents, 
and  life  had  tempered  his  impetuous  nature  with  much 
philosophy.  Moreover,  while  his  conscience  might  ignore 


146  REZANOV 

the  double  dealing  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of 
patriotic  or  political  acts,  it  revolted  at  the  idea  of 
outwitting,  possibly  wrecking,  his  trusting  and  hospita 
ble  host.  But  the  mere  fact  that  his  imagination  could 
dwell  upon  such  an  issue  as  reckless  flight,  inflamed 
his  impatience,  and  his  desire  to  see  Concha  daily  during 
these  last  few  weeks  of  propinquity.  Finally  he  sought 
the  co-operation  of  Father  Abella,  and  that  wise  student 
of  maids  and  men  gave  him  cheer. 

On  Thursday  afternoon  there  was  to  take  place  the 
long  delayed  Indian  dance  and  bull-bear  fight;  not  in 
the  Presidio,  but  at  the  Mission,  the  pride  of  the  friars 
inciting  them  to  succeed  where  the  military  authorities 
had  failed.  All  the  little  world  of  San  Francisco  had 
been  invited,  and  it  would  be  strange  if  in  the  con 
fusion  between  performance  and  supper  a  lover  could 
not  find  a  moment  alone  with  his  lady. 

The  elements  were  kind  to  the  padres.  The  after 
noon  was  not  too  hot,  although  the  sun  flooded  the  plain 
and  there  was  not  a  cloud  on  the  dazzling  blue  of  the 
sky.  Never  had  the  Mission  and  the  mansions  looked 
so  white,  their  tiles  so  red.  The  trees  were  blossoming 
pink  and  white  in  the  orchards,  the  lightest  breeze  rip 
pled  the  green  of  the  fields;  and  into  this  valley  came 
neither  the  winds  nor  the  fogs  of  the  ocean. 

The  priests  and  their  guests  of  honor  sat  on  the  long 
corridor  beside  the  church;  the  soldiers,  sailors,  and 
Indians  of  Presidio  and  Mission  forming  the  other  three 
sides  of  a  hollow  square.  The  Indian  women  were  a 
blaze  of  color.  The  ladies  on  the  corridor  wore  their 
mantillas,  jewels,  and  the  gayest  of  artificial  flowers. 
There  were  as  many  fans  as  women.  Rezanov  sat  be 
tween  Father  Abella  and  the  Commandante,  and  not 
being  in  the  best  of  tempers  had  never  looked  more 
imposing  and  remote.  Concha,  leaning  against  one  of 
the  pillars,  stole  a  glance  at  him  and  wondered  miserably 
if  this  haughty  European  had  really  sought  her  hand, 
if  it  were  not  a  girl's  foolish  dream.  But  Concha's 
humble  moments  at  this  period  of  her  life  were  rare, 


REZANOV  147 

and  she  drew  herself  up  proudly,  the  blood  of  the 
proudest  race  in  Europe  shaking  angrily  in  her  veins. 
A  moment  later,  in  response  to  a  power  greater  than 
any  within  herself,  she  turned  again.  The  attention  of 
the  hosts  and  guests  was  riveted  upon  the  preliminary 
antics  of  the  Indian  dancers,  and  Rezanov  seized  the 
opportunity  to  lean  forward  unobserved  and  gaze  at  the 
girl  whom  it  seemed  to  him  he  saw  for  the  first  time  in 
the  full  splendor  of  her  beauty.  She  wore  a  large 
mantilla  of  white  Spanish  lace.  In  the  fashion  of  the 
day  it  rose  at  the  back  almost  from  the  hem  of  her  gown 
to  descend  in  a  point  over  the  high  comb  to  her  eyes. 
The  two  points  of  the  width  were  gathered  at  her 
breast,  defining  the  outlines  of  her  superb  figure,  and 
fastened  with  one  large  Castilian  rose  surrounded  by  its 
mass  of  tiny  sharp  buds  and  dull  green  leaves.  As  the 
familiar  scent  assailed  Rezanov 's  nostrils  they  tingled 
and  expanded.  His  lids  were  lifted  and  his  eyes  glow 
ing  as  he  finally  compelled  her  glance,  and  her  own 
eyes  opened  with  an  eager  flash ;  her  lips  parted  and  her 
shoulders  lost  their  haughty  poise.  For  a  moment  their 
gaze  lingered  in  a  perfect  understanding;  his  ill-humor 
vanished,  and  he  leaned  back  with  a  complimentary 
remark  as  Father  Abella  directed  his  attention  to  the 
most  agile  of  the  Indians. 

The  swart  natives  of  both  sexes  with  their  thick  fea 
tures  and  long  hair  were  even  more  hideous  than  usual 
in  bandeaux  of  bright  feathers,  scant  garments  made 
from  the  breasts  of  water-fowls,  rattling  strings  of 
shells,  and  tattooing  on  arm  and  leg  no  longer  concealed 
by  the  decorous  Mission  smock.  Rezanov  had  that  day 
sent  them  presents  of  glass  beads  and  ribbons,  and  in 
these  they  took  such  extravagant  pride  that  for  some 
time  their  dancing  was  almost  automatic. 

But  soon  their  blood  warmed,  and  after  the  first  dance, 
which  was  merely  a  series  of  measured  springs  on  the 
part  of  the  men  and  a  beating  of  time  by  the  women, 
a  large  straw  figure  symbolizing  an  entire  hostile  tribe 
was  brought  in,  and  about  this  pranced  the  men  with 


148  REZANOV 

savage  cries  and  gestures,  advancing,  attacking,  retreat 
ing,  finally  piercing  it  with  their  arrows  and  marching 
it  off  with  sharp  yells  of  triumph  that  reverberated 
among  the  hills ;  the  women  never  varying  from  a  loud 
monotonous  chant. 

There  was  a  peaceful  interlude,  during  which  the 
men,  holding  bow  and  arrow  aloft,  hopped  up  and  down 
on  one  spot,  the  women  hopping  beside  them  and  snap 
ping  thumb  and  forefinger  on  the  body,  still  singing 
in  the  same  high  measured  voice.  But  while  they  danced 
a  great  bonfire  was  laid  and  kindled.  The  gyrations 
lasted  a  few  moments  longer,  then  the  chief  seized  a 
live  ember  and  swallowed  it.  His  example  was  imme 
diately  followed  by  his  tribe,  and,  whether  to  relieve 
discomfort  or  with  energies  but  quickened,  they  exe 
cuted  a  series  of  incredible  handsprings  and  acrobatic 
capers.  When  they  finally  whirled  away  on  toes  and 
finger  tips,  another  chief,  in  the  horns  and  hide  of  a 
deer,  rushed  in,  pursued  by  a  party  of  hunters.  For 
several  moments  he  perfectly  simulated  a  hunted  ani 
mal  lurking  and  dodging  in  high  grass,  behind  trees, 
venturing  to  the  brink  of  a  stream  to  drink,  searching 
eagerly  for  his  mate;  and  when  he  finally  escaped  it 
was  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic  plaudits  as  yet  evoked. 

After  an  hour  of  this  varied  performance,  the  square 
was  enlarged  by  several  mounted  vaqueros  galloping 
about  with  warning  cries  and  much  flourishing  of  lassos. 
They  were  the  cattle  herders  of  the  Mission  ranch  just 
over  the  hills,  and  were  in  gala  attire  of  black  glazed 
sombrero  with  silver  cord,  white  shirt  open  at  the 
throat,  short  black  velvet  trousers  laced  with  silver,  red 
sash  and  high  yellow  boots.  Four,  pistol  in  hand,  sta 
tioned  themselves  in  front  of  the  corridor,  while  the 
others  rode  out  and  in  again,  dragging  a  bear  and  a 
bull,  with  hind  legs  attached  by  two  yards  of  rope.  The 
captors  left  the  captives  in  the  middle  of  the  square, 
and  without  more  ado  the  serious  sport  of  the  day  began. 
The  bull,  with  stomach  empty  and  hide  inflamed,  rushed 
at  the  bear,  furious  from  captivity,  with  such  a  roar 


REZANOV  149 

that  the  Indian  women  screamed  and  even  the  men  shuf 
fled  their  feet  uneasily.  But  neither  combatant  was 
interested  in  aught  but  the  other.  The  one  sought  to 
gore,  his  enemy  to  strike  or  hug.  The  vaqueros  teased 
them  with  arrows  and  cries,  the  dust  flew;  for  a  few 
moments  there  was  but  a  heaving,  panting,  lashing  bulk 
in  the  middle  of  the  arena,  and  then  the  bull,  his  tongue 
torn  out,  rolled  on  his  back,  and  another  was  driven  in 
before  the  victor  could  wreak  his  unsated  vengeance 
among  the  spectators.  The  bear,  dragging  the  dead  bull, 
rushed  at  the  living,  who,  unmartial  at  first,  stiffened 
to  the  defensive  as  he  saw  a  bulk  of  wiry  fur  set  with 
eyes  of  fire,  almost  upon  him.  He  sprung  aside,  lowered 
his  horns,  and  caught  the  bear  in  the  chest.  But  the 
victor  was  a  compact  mass  of  battle  and  momentum.  His 
onslaught  flung  the  bear  over  backward,  and  quickly 
disengaging  himself  he  made  another  leap  at  his  equally 
agile  enemy.  This  time  the  battle  was  longer  and  more 
various,  for  the  bull  was  smaller,  more  active  and  dex 
terous.  Twice  he  almost  had  the  bear  on  his  horns, 
but  was  rolled,  only  saving  his  neck  and  back  from  the 
fury  of  the  mountain  beast,  by  such  a  kicking  and  leap 
ing  that  both  combatants  were  indistinguishable  from 
the  whirlwind  of  dust.  Out  of  this  they  would  emerge 
to  stand  panting  in  front  of  each  other  with  tongues 
pendant  and  red  eyes  rolling.  Finally  the  bear,  nearly 
exhausted,  made  a  sudden  charge,  the  bull  leaped  aside, 
back  again  with  incredible  swiftness,  caught  the  bear  in 
the  belly,  tossed  him  so  high  that  he  met  the  hard  earth 
with  a  loud  cracking  of  bone.  The  vaqueros  circled 
about  the  maddened  bull,  set  his  hide  thick  with  arrows, 
tripped  him  with  the  lasso.  A  wiry  little  Mexican  in 
yellow,  galloping  in  on  his  mustang,  administered  the 
coup  de  grace  amidst  the  wild  applause  of  the  specta 
tors,  whose  shouting  and  clapping  and  stamping  might 
have  been  heard  by  the  envious  guard  at  the  Presidio 
and  Yerba  Buena. 

As  the  party  on  the  corridor  broke,  Rezanov  found  no 
difficulty   in   reaching   Concha's   side,   for   even   Dona 


150  REZANOV 

Ignacia  was  chattering  wildly  with  several  other  good 
dames  who  renewed  their  youth  briefly  at  the  bull 
fight. 

"Did  you  enjoy  that?"  he  asked  curiously. 

"I  did  not  look  at  it.  I  never  do.  But  I  know  that 
you  were  not  affronted.  You  never  took  your  eyes 
from  those  dreadful  beasts." 

"I  am  exhilarated  to  know  that  you  watched  me. 
Yes,  at  a  bull-fight  the  primitive  man  in  me  has  its 
way,  although  I  have  the  grace  to  be  ashamed  of  myself 
afterward.  In  that  I  am  at  least  one  degree  more  civ 
ilized  than  your  race,  which  never  repents. ' ' 

The  door  of  one  of  the  smaller  rooms  stood  open, 
and  as  they  took  advantage  of  this  oversight  with  a 
singular  concert  of  motive,  he  clasped  both  her  hands 
in  his.  ' '  Are  you  angry  with  me  ? "  he  asked  softly.  He 
dared  not  close  the  door,  but  his  back  was  square  against 
it,  and  the  other  guests  were  moving  down  to  the 
refectory. 

"For  liking  such  horrid  sport?" 

"We  have  no  time  to  waste  in  coquetry." 

Her  eyes  melted,  but  she  could  not  resist  planting  a 
dart.  ' '  Not  now — I  quite  understand :  love  could  never 
be  first  with  you.  And  two  years  are  not  so  long.  They 
quickly  pass  when  one  is  busy.  I  shall  find  occupation, 
and  you  will  have  no  time  for  longings  and  regrets." 

They  were  not  yet  alone,  women  were  talking  in  their 
light  high  voices  not  a  yard  away.  The  hindrance,  and 
her  new  loveliness  in  the  soft  mantilla,  the  pink  of  the 
roses  reflected  in  her  throat,  the  provocative  curl  of  her 
mouth,  sent  the  blood  to  his  head. 

"You  have  only  to  say  the  word,"  he  said  hoarsely, 
"and  the  Juno  will  sail  to-night." 

Never  before  had  she  seen  his  face  so  unmasked, 
Her  voice  shook  in  triumph  and  response. 

' '  Would  you  ?    Would  you  ? " 

"Say  the  word!" 

"You  would  sacrifice  all — the  Company — your  career 
— your  Sitkans?" 


REZANOV  151 

"All — everything."  His  own  voice  shook  with  more 
than  passion,  for  even  in  that  moment  he  counted  the 
cost,  but  he  did  not  care. 

But  Concha  detected  that  second  break  in  his  voice, 
and  turned  her  head  sadly. 

"You  would  not  say  that  to-morrow.  I  hate  myself 
that  I  made  you  say  it  now.  I  love  you  enough  to 
wait  forever,  but  I  have  not  the  courage  to  hand  you 
over  to  your  enemies." 

"You  are  strangely  far-sighted  for  a  young  girl." 
And  between  admiration  and  pique,  his  ardor  suffered 
a  chill. 

"I  am  no  longer  a  young  girl.  In  these  last  days 
it  has  seemed  to  me  that  secrets  locked  in  my  brain, 
secrets  of  women  long  dead,  but  of  whose  essence  I 
am,  have  come  forth  to  the  light.  I  have  suffered  in 
anticipation.  My  mind  has  flown — flown — I  have  lived 
those  two  years  until  they  are  twenty,  thirty,  and  I 
have  lived  on  into  old  age  here  by  the  sea,  watching, 
watching " 

She  had  dropped  all  pretence  of  coquetry  and  was 
speaking  with  a  passionate  forlornness.  But  before  he 
could  interrupt  her,  take  advantage  of  the  retreating 
voices  that  left  them  alone  at  last,  she  had  drawn  her 
self  up  and  moved  a  step  away.  "Do  not  think,  how 
ever,"  she  said  proudly,  "that  I  am  really  as  weak 
and  silly  as  that.  It  was  only  a  mood.  Should  you 
not  return  I  should  grieve,  yes;  and  should  I  live  as 
long  as  is  common  with  my  race,  still  would  my  heart 
remain  young  with  your  image,  and  with  the  fidelity 
that  would  be  no  less  a  religion  than  that  of  my  church. 
But  I  should  not  live  a  selfish  life,  or  I  should  be  un-  i 
worthy  of  my  election  to  experience  a  great  and  eternal 
passion.  Memory  and  the  life  of  the  imagination  would 
be  my  solace,  possibly  in  time  my  happiness,  but  my 
days  I  should  give  to  this  poor  little  world  of  ours; 
and  all  that  one  mortal,  and  that  a  woman,  has  to 
bestow  upon  a  stranded  and  benighted  people.  It  may 


152  REZANOV 

not  be  much,  but  I  make  you  that  promise,  senor,  that 
you  will  not  think  me  a  foolish  romantic  girl  unworthy 
of  the  great  responsibilities  you  have  offered  me." 

"Concha!"  He  was  deeply  moved,  and  at  the  same 
time  her  words  chilled  him  with  subtle  prophecy,  sank 
into  some  unexplored  depth  of  his  consciousness,  meet 
ing  response  as  subtle,  filling  him  with  a  rush  of  angry 
impatience  at  the  mortality  of  man.  He  glanced  over 
his  shoulder,  then  took  her  recklessly  in  his  arms. 

"Is  it  possible  you  doubt  I  will  come  back?"  he 
demanded.  "My  faith?" 

"No,  not  that.  But  such  happiness  seems  to  me  too 
great  for  this  life." 

He  remembered  how  often  he  had  been  close  to  death ; 
he  knew  that  during  the  greater  part  of  the  next  two 
years  he  should  see  the  glimmer  of  the  scythe  oftener 
yet.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  felt  the 
dark  waters  rise  in  his  soul,  heard  the  jeers  of  the  gods 
at  the  vanity  of  mortal  will.  But  the  blood  ran  strong 
and  warm  in  his  veins.  He  shook  off  the  obsession,  and 
smiled  a  little  cynically,  even  as  he  kissed  her. 

"This  is  the  hour  for  romance,  my  dear.  In  the 
years  to  come,  when  you  are  very  prosaically  my  wife 
with  a  thousand  duties,  and  grumbling  at  my  exactions, 
your  consolation  will  be  the  memory  of  some  moment 
like  this,  when  you  were  able  to  feel  romantic  and  sad. 
I  wish  I  could  arrange  for  some  such  set  of  memories 
for  myself,  but  I  am  unequal  to  your  divine  melan 
choly.  When  I  cannot  see  you  I  am  cross  and  sulky; 
and  just  now — I  am,  well — philosophically  happy. 
Some  day  I  shall  be  happier,  but  this  is  well  enough. 
And  I  can  harbor  no  ugly  presentiments.  As  I  entered 
California  I  was  elated  with  a  sense  of  coming  happi 
ness,  of  future  victories;  and  I  prefer  to  dwell  upon 
that,  the  more  particularly  as  in  a  measure  the  pro 
phetic  hint  has  been  fulfilled.  So  make  the  most  of  the 
present.  I  shall  see  you  daily  during  this  last  precious 
fortnight,  for  I  am  determined  this  arrangement  shall 


REZANOV  153 

cease;  and  you  must  exorcise  coquetry  and  abet  me 
whenever  there  is  a  chance  of  a  word  alone." 

She  nodded,  but  she  noted  with  a  sigh  that  he  said 
no  more  of  sudden  flight.  She  would  never  have  con 
sented  to  jeopardize  the  least  of  his  interests,  but  she 
fain  would  have  been  besought.  The  experience  she 
had  had  of  the  vehemence  and  fire  in  Rezanov  made  her 
long  for  his  complete  subjugation  and  the  happiness 
it  must  bring  to  herself.  But  as  he  smiled  tenderly 
above  her  she  saw  that  his  practical  brain  had  silenced 
the  irresponsible  demands  of  love,  and  although  she 
did  not  withdraw  from  his  arms  she  stiffened  her  head. 

"I  fancy  I  shall  return  home  to-morrow,"  she  said. 
"My  mother  tells  me  that  she  can  live  without  me  no 
longer,  and  that  .Father  Abella  has  reminded  her  that 
if  I  stay  in  the  house  of  Elena  Castro  I  shall  be  as  free 
from  gossip  as  here.  I  infer  that  he  has  rated  my  two 
parents  for  making  a  martyr  of  me  unnecessarily,  and 
told  them  it  was  a  duty  to  enliven  my  life  as  much  as 
possible  before  I  enter  upon  this  long  period  of  proba 
tion.  The  grating  of  my  room  at  Elena's  is  above  a 
little  strip  of  garden,  and  faces  the  blank  wall  of  the 
next  house.  Sometimes — who  knows?"  She  shrugged 
her  shoulders  and  gave  a  gay  little  laugh,  then  stood 
very  erect  and  moved  past  him  to  the  door.  She  had 
recognized  the  shuffling  step  of  Father  Abella. 

"Is  supper  ready,  padre  mio?"  she  asked  sweetly. 
"His  excellency  and  I  have  talked  so  much  that  we  are 
very  hungry." 

"There  is  no  need  to  deceive  me,"  said  Father  Abella 
dryly.  "You  are  not  the  first  lovers  I  have  known, 
although  I  will  admit  you  are  by  far  the  most  interest 
ing,  and  for  that  reason  I  have  had  the  wickedness  to 
abet  you.  But  I  fancy  the  good  God  will  forgive  me. 
Come  quickly.  They  are  scattered  now,  but  will  go  to 
the  refectory  in  a  moment  and  miss  you.  Excellency, 
will  you  give  your  arm  to  Dona  Ignacia  and  take  the 
seat  at  the  head  of  the  table?  Concha,  my  child,  I  am, 


154  REZANOV 

afraid  you  must  console  our  good  Don  Weeliam.  He 
is  having  a  wretched  quarter  of  an  hour,  but  has  loyally 
diverted  the  attention  of  your  mother." 

"That  is  the  vocation  of  certain  men,"  said  Concha 
lightly. 


XXIII 

LIFE  was  very  gay  for  a  fortnight.  An  hour  after  the 
Commandante 's  surrender  he  had  despatched  invita 
tions  to  all  the  young  folk  of  the  gente  de  razon  of 
Monterey,  Santa  Barbara,  Los  Angeles,  and  San  Diego, 
and  to  such  of  the  older  as  would  brave  the  long  jour 
neys.  The  Monterenos  had  arrived  for  the  Mission  enter 
tainment,  and  during  the  next  few  days  the  rest  poured 
over  the  hills:  De  la  Guerras,  Ximenos,  Estudillos, 
Carrillos,  Estenegas,  Morenos,  Cotas,  Estradas,  Picos, 
Pachecos,  Lugos,  Ortegas,  Alvarados,  Bandinis,  Peraltas, 
members  of  the  Luis,  Kodriguez,  Lopez  families,  all  of 
gentle  blood,  that  made  up  the  society  of  Old  California ; 
as  gay,  arcadian,  irresponsible,  yet  moral  a  society  as 
ever  fluttered  over  this  planet.  Every  house  in  the 
Presidio  and  valley,  every  spare  room  at  the  Mission, 
opened  to  them  with  the  exuberant  hospitality  of  the 
country.  The  caballeros  had  their  finest  wardrobes  of 
colored  silks  and  embroidered  botas,  sombreros  laden 
with  silver,  fine  lawn  and  lace,  jewel  and  sash,  velvet 
serape  for  the  chill  of  the  late  afternoon.  The  matrons 
brought  their  stiff  robes  of  red  and  yellow  satin,  the 
girls  as  many  flowered  silk  and  lawns,  mantillas  and 
rebosos,  as  the  family  carretas  would  hold.  The  square 
of  the  Presidio  was  crowded  from  morning  until  mid 
night  with  the  spirited  horses  of  the  country,  prancing 
impatiently  under  the  heavy  Mexican  saddle,  heavier 
with  silver,  made  a  trifle  more  endurable  by  the  blanket 
of  velvet  or  cloth.  No  Californian  walked  a  dozen  rods 
when  he  had  a  horse  to  carry  him. 

But  the  horses  were  not  always  champing  in  the 
square.  There  was  more  than  one  bull-bear  fight,  and 
twice  a  week  at  least  they  carried  their  owners  to  the 

155 


156  REZANOV 

hills  of  the  Mission  ranch,  or  the  rocky  cliffs  and  gorges 
above  Yerba  Buena,  the  Indian  servants  following  with 
great  baskets  of  luncheon,  perhaps  roasting  an  ox  whole 
in  a  trench.  This  the  Californians  called  barbecue  and 
the  picnic  merienda. 

There  was  dancing  day  and  night,  the  tinkling  of 
guitars,  flirting  of  fans.  Rezanov  vowed  he  would  not 
have  believed  there  were  so  many  fans  and  guitars  in 
the  world,  and  suddenly  remembered  he  had  never  seen 
Concha  with  either.  The  lady  of  his  choice  reigned 
supreme.  Many  had  taken  the  long  blistering  journey 
for  no  other  purpose  than  to  see  the  famous  beauty 
and  her  Russian ;  the  engagement  was  as  well  known  as 
if  cried  from  the  Mission  top.  The  girls  were  surprised 
and  delighted  to  find  Concha  sweet  rather  than  proud 
and  envied  her  with  amiable  enthusiasm.  The  caballeros, 
fewer  in  number,  for  most  of  the  men  in  California 
at  that  period  before  a  freer  distribution  of  land  were 
on  duty  in  the  army,  artfully  ignored  the  unavowed 
bond,  but  liked  Rezanov  when  he  took  the  trouble  to 
charm  them. 

Khostov  and  Davidov  watched  the  loading  of  the 
Juno  with  a  lively  regret.  Never  had  they  enjoyed 
themselves  more,  nor  seen  so  many  pretty  girls  in  one 
place.  Both  had  begun  by  falling  in  love  with  Concha, 
and  although  they  rebounded  swiftly  from  the  blow 
to  their  hopes,  it  happily  saved  them  from  a  more  serious 
dilemma;  unwealthed  and  graceless  as  they  were,  they 
would  have  been  regarded  with  little  favor  by  the  prac 
tical  California  father.  As  it  was,  their  pleasures  were 
unpoisoned  by  regrets  or  rebuffs.  When  they  were  not 
flirting  in  the  dance  or  in  front  of  a  lattice,  receiving 
a  lesson  in  Spanish  behind  the  portly  back  of  a  duena, 
or  clasping  brown  little  fingers  under  cover  of  a  fan 
when  all  eyes  were  riveted  on  the  death  struggle  of  a 
bull  and  a  bear,  they  were  playing  cards  and  drinking 
in  the  officers'  quarters;  which  they  liked  almost  as 
well.  It  is  true  they  sometimes  paid  the  price  in  a 
cutting  rebuke  from  their  chief,  but  the  rebukes  were 


REZANOV  157 

not  as  frequent  as  in  less  toward  circumstances,  and 
were  generally  followed  by  some  fresh  indulgence. 
This,  they  uneasily  guessed,  was  not  only  the  result  of 
the  equable  state  of  his  excellency 's  temper,  but  because 
he  had  a  signal  unpleasantness  in  store,  and  would  not 
hazard  their  resignation.  They  had  taken  advantage  of 
an  imperial  ukase  to  enter  the  service  of  the  Russian- 
American  Company  temporarily,  and  they  knew  that  if 
they  evaded  any  behest  of  Rezanov 's  their  adventurous 
life  in  the  Pacific  would  be  over.  Therefore,  although 
they  resented  his  implacable  will,  they  pulled  with  him 
in  outward  amity;  and  indeed  there  were  few  of  the 
Juno's  human  freight  that  did  not  look  back  upon  that 
California  springtime  as  the  episode  of  their  lives,  com 
monly  stormy  or  monotonous,  in  which  the  golden  tide 
flowed  with  least'alloy.  Even  Langsdorff,  although  im 
pervious  to  female  charms  and  with  scientific  thirst 
unslaked,  enjoyed  the  Spanish  fare  and  the  society  of 
the  priests.  The  sailors  received  many  privileges,  at 
tended  bull-fights  and  fandangos,  loved  and  pledged; 
and  were  only  restrained  from  emigration  to  the  interior 
of  this  enchanted  land  of  pretty  girls  and  plentiful  food 
by  the  knowledge  of  the  sure  and  merciless  vengeance 
of  their  chief.  Had  the  rumor  of  war  still  held  it 
might  have  been  otherwise,  but  that  raven  had  flown 
off  to  the  limbo  of  its  kind,  and  the  Commandante  let 
it  be  known  that  deserters  would  be  summarily  captured 
and  sent  in  irons  to  the  Juno. 

In  the  mind  of  Concha  Argiiello  there  was  never  a 
lingering  doubt  of  the  quality  of  that  fortnight  between 
the  days  of  torturing  doubts  and  acute  emotional  up 
heaval,  and  the  sailing  away  of  Rezanov.  It  was  true 
that  what  he  banteringly  termed  her  romantic  sadness 
possessed  her  at  times,  but  it  served  as  a  shadow  to 
throw  into  sharper  relief  an  almost  incredible  happiness. 
If  she  seldom  saw  Rezanov  alone  there  was  the  less  to 
disturb  her,  and  at  least  he  was  never  far  from  her  side. 
There  were  always  the  delight  of  unexpected  moments 
unseen,  whispered  words  in  the  crowd,  the  sense  of 


158  REZANOV 

complete  understanding,  broken  now  and  again  by 
poignant  attacks  of  unreasoning  jealousy,  not  only  on 
her  part  but  his;  quite  worth  the  reconciliation  at  the 
lattice,  while  Elena  Castro,  gentle  duena,  pitched  her 
voice  high  and  amused  her  husband  so  well  he  sought 
no  opportunity  for  response. 

Then  there  was  more  than  one  excursion  about  the 
bay  on  the  Juno,  dinner  on  La  Bellissima  or  Nuestra 
Senora  de  los  Angeles,  a  long  return  after  sundown 
that  the  southerners  might  appreciate  the  splendor  of 
the  afterglow  when  the  blue  of  the  water  was  reflected 
in  the  lower  sky,  to  melt  into  the  pink  fire  above,  and 
all  the  land  swam  in  a  pearly  mist. 

Once  the  Commandante  took  twenty  of  his  guests,  a 
gay  cavalcade,  to  his  rancho,  El  Pilar,  thirty  miles  to 
the  south:  a  long  valley  flanked  by  the  bay  and  the 
eastern  mountains  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  high  range 
dense  with  forests  of  tall  thin  trees  on  the  other.  But 
the  valley  itself  was  less  Californian  than  any  part  of 
the  country  Rezanov  had  seen.  Smooth  and  flat  and 
free  of  undergrowth  and  set  with  at  least  ten  thousand 
oaks,  it  looked  more  like  a  splendid  English  park,  long 
preserved,  than  the  recent  haunt  of  naked  savages. 
There  were  deer  and  quail  in  abundance,  here  and  there 
an  open  field  of  grain.  Long  beards  of  pale  green 
moss  waved  from  the  white  oaks,  wild  flowers,  golden 
red  and  pale  blue,  burst  underfoot.  There  were  hedges 
of  sweet  briar,  acres  of  lupins,  purple  and  yellow.  Alto 
gether  the  ideal  estate  of  a  nobleman;  and  Rezanov, 
who  had  liked  nothing  in  California  so  well,  gave  his 
imagination  rein  and  saw  the  counterpart  of  the  castle 
of  his  ancestors  rise  in  the  deep  shade  of  the  trees. 

Don  Jose's  house  was  a  long  rambling  adobe,  red 
tiled,  with  many  bedrooms  and  one  immense  hall. 
Beyond  were  a  chapel  and  a  dozen  outbuildings.  Din 
ner  was  served  in  patriarchal  style  in  the  hall,  the 
Commandante — or  El  padrone  as  he  was  known  here — 
and  his  guests  at  the  upper  end  of  the  table ;  below  the 
salt,  the  vaqueros,  their  wives  and  children,  and  the 


REZANOV  159 

humble  friar  who  drove  them  to  prayer  night  and 
morning.  The  friar  wore  his  brown  robes,  the  vaqueros 
their  black  and  silver  and  red  in  honor  of  the  company, 
their  women  glaring  handkerchiefs  of  green  or  red  or 
yellow  about  their  necks,  even  pinned  back  and  front 
on  their  shapeless  garments;  and  affording  a  fine  vege 
table  garden  contrast  to  the  delicate  flower  bed  surround 
ing  the  padrone. 

There  was  a  race  track  on  the  ranch  and  many  fine 
horses.  After  siesta  the  company  mounted  fresh  steeds 
and  rode  off  to  applaud  the  feats  of  the  vaqueros,  who, 
not  content  with  climbing  the  greased  pole,  wrenching 
the  head  of  an  unfortunate  rooster  from  his  buried 
body  as  they  galloped  by,  submitting  the  tail  of  an  oiled 
pig  in  full  flight  io  the  same  indignity,  gave  when  these 
and  other  native  diversions  were  exhausted,  such  exhibi 
tions  of  riding  and  racing  as  have  never  been  seen  out 
of  California.  As  lithe  as  willow  wands,  on  slender 
horses  as  graceful  as  themselves,  they  looked  like  meteors 
springing  through  space,  and  there  was  no  trick  of  the 
circus  they  did  not  know  by  instinct,  and  translate  from 
gymnastics  into  poetry.  Even  Rezanov  shared  the  excite 
ment  of  the  shouting  clapping  Californians,  and  Concha 
laughed  delightedly  when  his  cap  waved  with  the  som 
breros. 

"I  think  you  will  make  a  good  Calif ornian  in  time," 
she  said  as  they  rode  homeward. 

"Perhaps,"  said  Rezanov  musingly.  His  eyes  roved 
over  the  magnificent  estate  and  at  the  moment  they 
entered  a  portion  of  it  that  deepened  to  woods,  so  dense 
was  the  undergrowth,  so  thick  the  oak  trees.  Here 
there  was  but  a  glimpse,  now  and  again,  of  the  moun 
tains  swimming  in  the  dark  blue  mist  of  the  late  after 
noon,  the  moss  waved  thickly  from  the  ancient  trees; 
over  even  the  higher  branches  of  many  rolled  a  cascade 
of  small  brittle  leaves,  with  the  tempting  opulence  of 
its  poisonous  sap.  The  path  was  very  abrupt,  cut  where 
the  immense  spreading  trees  permitted,  and  Rezanov 


160  REZANOV 

and  Concha  had  no  difficulty  in  falling  away  from  the 
chattering  excited  company. 

"Tell  me  your  ultimate  plans,  Pedro  mio,"  said 
Concha  softly.  "You  are  dreaming  of  something  this 
moment  beyond  corn  and  treaties." 

"Do  you  want  that  final  proof?"  he  asked,  smiling. 
"Well,  if  I  could  not  trust  you  that  would  be  the  end 
of  everything,  and  I  know  that  I  can.  I  have  long 
regarded  California  as  an  absolutely  necessary  field'  of 
supplies,  and  since  I  have  come  here  I  will  frankly  say 
that  could  I,  as  the  representative  of  the  Tsar  in  all 
this  part  of  the  world,  make  it  practically  my  own, 
I  should  be  content  in  even  a  permanent  exile  from  St. 
Petersburg.  I  could  attract  an  immense  colony  here 
and  in  time  import  libraries  and  works  of  art,  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  great  and  important  city  on  that 
fine  site  about  Yerba  Buena.  But  now  that  these  kind 
people  have  practically  adopted  me  I  cannot  repay  their 
hospitality  by  any  overt  act  of  hostility.  I  must  be 
content  either  slowly  to  absorb  the  country,  in  which 
case  I  shall  see  no  great  result  in  my  lifetime,  or — and 
for  this  I  hope — what  with  the  mess  Bonaparte  is  mak 
ing  of  Europe,  every  state  may  be  at  the  others'  throat 
before  long,  including  Russia  and  Spain.  At  all  events, 
a  cause  for  rupture  would  not  be  far  to  seek,  and  it 
would  need  no  instigation  of  mine  to  despatch  a  fleet 
to  these  shores.  In  that  case  I  should  be  sent  with  it 
to  take  possession  in  the  name  of  the  Tsar,  and  to  deal 
with  these  simple,  kind — and  inefficient  people,  my  dear 
girl — as  no  other  Russian  could.  They  cannot  hold  this 
country.  Spain  could  not — would  not,  at  all  events,  for 
she  has  not  troops  enough  here  to  protect  a  territory 
half  its  size — hold  it  against  even  the  'Americans,' 
should  they  in  time  feel  strong  enough  to  push  their 
way  across  the  western  wilderness.  It  is  the  destiny  of 
this  charming  Arcadia  to  disappear;  and  did  Russia 
forego  an  opportunity  to  appropriate  a  domain  that 
offers  her  literally  everything  except  civilization,  she 
would  be  unworthy  of  her  place  among  nations.  More- 


REZANOV  161 

over — a  beneficent  triumph  impossible  to  us  otherwise — 
with  a  powerful  and  flourishing  colony  up  and  down  this 
coast,  and  sending  breadstuffs  regularly  to  our  other 
possessions  in  these  waters  until  the  natives,  immigrants, 
and  exiles  were  healthy  vitalized  beings,  it  would  be  but 
a  question  of  a  few  years  before  we  should  force  open. 
the  doors  of  China  and  Japan."  He  caught  Concha 
from  her  horse  and  strained  her  to  him  in  the  mounting 
ardor  of  his  plunge  down  the  future.  "You  must  resent 
nothing!"  he  cried.  "You  must  cease  to  be  a  Spanish 
woman  when  you  become  my  wife,  and  help  me  as  only 
you  can  in  those  inevitable  years  I  have  mapped  out; 
and  not  so  much  for  myself  as  for  Russia.  My  enemies 
have  sought  to  persuade  three  sovereigns  that  I  am  a 
visionary,  but  I  Jhave  already  accomplished  much  that 
met  with  resentment  and  ridicule  when  I  broached  it. 
And  I  know  my  powers!  I  tingle  with  the  knowledge 
of  my  ability  to  carry  to  a  conclusion  every  plan  I  have 
thought  worth  the  holding  when  the  ardor  of  concep 
tion  was  over.  I  swear  to  you  that  death  alone — and 
I  believe  that  nothing  is  further  aloof — shall  prevent 
my  giving  this  country  to  Russia  before  five  years  have 
passed,  and  within  another  brief  span  the  trade  of  China 
and  Japan.  It  is  a  glorious  destiny  for  a  man — one 
man ! — to  pass  into  history  as  the  Russian  of  his  century 
who  has  done  most  to  add  to  the  extent  and  the  wealth 
and  the  power  of  his  empire!  Does  that  sound  vain 
glorious,  and  do  you  resent  it?  You  must  not,  I  tell 
you,  you  must  not!" 

Concha  had  never  seen  him  in  such  a  mood.  Although 
he  held  her  so  closely  that  the  horses  were  angrily 
biting  each  other,  she  felt  that  for  once  there  was  noth 
ing  personal  in  his  ardor.  His  eyes  were  blazing,  but 
they  stared  as  if  a  great  and  prophetic  panorama  had 
risen  in  this  silent  wood,  where  the  long  faded  moss 
hung  as  motionless  as  if  by  those  quiet  waters  that 
even  the  most  ardent  must  cross  in  his  time.  She  felt 
his  heart  beat  as  she  had  felt  it  before  against  her  soft 
breast,  but  she  knew  that  if  he  thought  of  her  at  all  it 


162  REZANOV 

was  but  as  a  part  of  himself,  not  as  the  woman  he  impa 
tiently  desired.  But  she  was  sensible  of  no  resentment, 
either  for  herself  or  her  race,  which,  indeed,  she  knew 
to  be  but  a  wayfarer  in  the  wilderness  engaged  in  a 
brief  chimerical  enterprise.  For  the  first  time  she  felt 
her  individuality  melt  into,  commingle  with  his:  and 
when  he  lowered  his  gaze,  still  with  that  intensity  of 
vision  piercing  the  future,  her  own  eyes  reflected  the 
impersonalities  of  his ;  and  in  time  he  saw  it. 


xxrv 

should  all  wear  black  for  so  mournful  an  occasion, " 
said  Rafaella  Sal,  spreading  out  her  scarlet  skirts. 

"Father  Abella  is  right.  The  occasion  is  sad  enough 
without  giving  it  the  air  of  a  funeral." 

' '  Sad !    Dios  de  mi  alma !    Will  he  return  ? ' ' 

Elena  Castro  shook  her  wise  head.  She  was  nearly 
twenty,  and  four  years  of  matrimony  had  made  her 
sceptical  of  man's  capacity  for  romance.  "Two  years 
are  long,  and  he  will  see  many  girls,  and  become  one 
again  of  a  life  that  is  always  more  brilliant  than  our 
sun  in  May.  His  eyes  will  be  dazzled,  his  mind  dis 
tracted,  full  to  the  brim.  To  sit  at  table  with  the  Tsar, 
to  talk  with  him  alone  in  his  cabinet,  to  have  for  the 
asking  audience  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  and  the  King  of 
Spain!  Ay  yi!  Ay  yi!  Perhaps  he  will  be  made  a 
prince  when  he  returns  to  St.  Petersburg  and  all  the 
beautiful  princesses  will  want  to  marry  him.  Can  he 
remember  this  poor  little  California,  and  even  our  lovely 
Concha?  I  doubt!  Valgame  Dios,  I  doubt!" 

"Concha  has  always  been  too  fortunate,"  said  Rafaella 
with  a  touch  of  spite,  for  years  of  waiting  had  tried 
her  temper  and  the  sun  always  freckled  her  nose.  The 
flower  of  California  stood  on  the  corridor  of  the  Mission 
and  before  the  church  awaiting  the  guest  of  honor  and 
his  escort.  A  mass  was  to  be  said  in  behalf  of  the 
departing  guests ;  the  Juno  would  sail  with  the  turn  of 
the  afternoon  tide.  Men  and  women  were  in  their  gayest 
finery,  an  exotic  mass  of  color  against  the  rough  white 
washed  walls,  chattering  as  vivaciously  as  if  the  burden 
of  their  conversation  were  not  regret  for  the  Chamber 
lain  and  his  gay  young  lieutenants.  Concha,  alone,  wore 
no  color ;  her  frock  was  white,  her  mantilla  black.  She 

163 


164  REZANOV 

stood  somewhat  apart,  but  although  she  was  pale  she 
commanded  her  eyes  to  dwell  absently  on  the  shifting 
sand  far  down  the  valley,  her  haughty  Spanish  profile 
betraying  nothing  of  the  despair  in  her  soul. 

"Yes,  Concha  has  always  been  too  fortunate,"  re 
peated  Rafaella.  "Why  should  she  be  chosen  for  such 
a  destiny — to  go  to  the  Russian  court  and  wear  a  train 
ten  yards  long  of  red  velvet  embroidered  with  gold,  a 
white  veil  spangled  with  gold,  a  head-dress  a  foot  high 
set  so  thick  with  jewels  her  head  will  ache  for  a  week — 
Madre  de  Dios!  And  we  stay  here  forever  with  white 
walls,  horsehair  furniture,  Baja  California  pearls  and 
three  silk  dresses  a  year!" 

"No  one  in  all  Russia  will  look  so  grand  in  court 
dress  as  our  Conchita,"  said  Elena  loyally.  "But  I 
doubt  if  it  is  the  dress  and  the  state  she  thinks  of  losing 

to-day.  She  will  not  talk  even  to  me  of  him Ay 

yi!  she  grows  more  reserved  every  day,  our  Concha! — 
except  to  say  she  will  wed  him  when  he  returns,  and 
that  I  know,  for  did  not  I  witness  the  betrothal?  She 
only  mocks  me  when  I  beg  her  to  tell  me  if  she  loves 
him,  languishes,  or  sings  a  bar  of  some  one  of  our 
beautiful  songs  with  ridiculous  words.  But  she  does. 
She  did  not  sleep  last  night.  Her  room  is  next  to  mine. 
No,  it  is  of  Rezanov  she  thinks,  and  always.  Those 
proud  silent  girls,  who  jest  when  others  would  weep  and 
use  many  words  and  must  die  without  sympathy — 
they  have  tragedy  in  their  souls,  ay  yi !  And  you  think 
she  is  fortunate?  True  she  is  beautiful,  she  is  La  Fa- 
vorita,  she  receives  many  boxes  from  Mexico,  and  she 
has  won  the  love  of  this  Russian.  But — I  have  not 
dared  to  remind  her — I  remembered  it  only  yesterday 
— she  came  into  this  world  on  the  thirteenth  of  a  month, 
and  he  into  her  life  but  one  day  before  the  thirteenth 
of  another — new  style !  True  some  might  say  that  it  was 
an  escape,  but  if  he  came  on  the  twelfth,  it  was  on  the 
thirteenth  she  began  to  love  him — on  the  night  of  the 
ball ;  of  that  I  am  sure. ' ' 

Rafaella    shuddered    and    crossed    herself.      "Poor 


REZANOV  165 

Concha !  Perhaps  in  the  end  she  will  always  stand  apart 
like  that.  Truly  she  is  not  as  others.  I  have  always 
said  it.  Thanks  be  to  Mary  it  was  Luis  that  wooed 
me,  not  the  Russian,  for  I  might  have  been  tempted. 
True  his  eyes  are  blue,  and  only  the  black  could  win 
my  heart.  But  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg!  Dios  de 
mi  vida !  Did  I  lie  awake  at  night  and  think  of  Concha 
Argiiello  in  red  velvet  and  jewels  all  over,  I  should  hate 
her.  But  no — to-day — I  cannot.  Two  years!  Have  I 
not  waited  six?  It  is  eternity  when  one  loves  and  is 
young. ' ' 

' '  They  come, ' '  said  Elena. 

The  cavalcade  f\vas  descending  the  sand  hills  on  the 
left,  Rezanov  in  full  uniform  between  the  Comman- 
dante  and  Luis  ATgiiello  and  followed  by  r.  picked  escort 
of  officers  from  Presidio  and  Fort.  The  Californians 
wore  full-dress  uniform  of  white  and  scarlet,  Don  Jose 
a  blue  velvet  serape,  embroidered  in  gold  with  the  arms 
of  Spain. 

As  they  dismounted  Rezanov  bowed  ceremoniously  to 
the  party  on  the  corridor,  and  they  returned  his  salu* 
tation  gravely,  suddenly  silent.  He  walked  directly 
over  to  Concha. 

"We  will  go  in  together,"  he  said.  "It  matters  noth 
ing  what  they  think.  I  kneel  beside  no  one  else." 

And  Concha,  with  the  air  of  leading  an  honored 
guest  to  the  banquet,  turned  and  walked  with  him  into 
the  dark  little  church. 

"Why  did  you  not  wear  a  white  mantilla?"  he  whis 
pered.  "I  do  not  like  that  black  thing." 

"I  am  not  a  bride.  I  knew  we  should  kneel  together 
— it  would  have  been  ridiculous.  And  I  could  not  wear 
a  colored  reboso  to-day." 

"I  should  have  liked  to  fancy  we  were  here  for  our 
nuptials.  Delusions  pass  but  are  none  the  less  sweet 
for  that." 

They  knelt  before  the  altar,  the  Commandante,  Dona 
Ignacia,  Luis,  Santiago,  Rafaella  Sal  and  Elena  Castro 
just  behind ;  the  rest  of  the  party,  their  bright  garments 


166  REZANOV 

shimmering  vaguely  in  the  gloom,  as  they  listed;  and 
enough  fervent  prayers  went  up  to  insure  the  health 
and  safety  of  the  departing  guests  for  all  their  lives. 

Rezanov,  who  had  much  on  his  mind,  stared  moodily 
at  the  altar  until  Concha,  who  had  bowed  her  head 
almost  to  her  knees,  finished  her  supplication;  then 
their  eyes  turned  and  met  simultaneously.  For  a  mo 
ment  their  brains  did  swim  in  the  delusion  that  the 
priest  with  his  uplifted  hands  pronounced  benediction 
upon  their  nuptials,  that  probation  was  over  and  union 
nigh.  But  Father  Abella  dismissed  all  with  the  same 
blessing,  and  they  shivered  as  they  rose  and  walked 
slowly  down  the  church. 

Dona  Ignacia  took  her  husband's  arm,  and  muttering 
that  she  feared  a  chill,  hurried  the  others  before  her. 
The  priests  had  gone  to  the  sacristy.  Before  they 
reached  the  door  Rezanov  and  Concha  were  alone. 

His  hands  fell  heavily  on  her  shoulders. 

"Concha,"  he  said.  "I  shall  come  back  if  I  live.  I 
make  no  foolish  vows,  so  idle  between  us.  There  is  only 
one  power  that  can  prevent  our  marriage  in  this  church 
not  later  than  two  years  from  to-day.  And  although  I 
am  in  the  very  fulness  of  my  health  and  strength,  with 
my  work  but  begun,  and  all  my  happiness  in  the  future, 
and  even  to  a  less  sanguine  man  it  would  seem  that  his 
course  had  many  years  to  run,  still  have  I  seen  as  much 
as  any  man  of  the  inconsequence  of  life,  of  the  insig 
nificance  of  the  individual,  his  hopes,  ambitions,  happi 
ness,  and  even  usefulness,  in  the  complicated  machinery 
of  natural  laws.  It  may  be  that  I  shall  not  come  back. 
But  I  wish  to  take  with  me  your  promise  that  if  I  have 
not  returned  at  the  end  of  two  years  or  you  have  re 
ceived  no  reason  for  my  detention,  you  will  believe  that 
I  am  dead.  There  would  be  but  one  insupportable  drop 
in  the  bitterness  of  death,  the  doubt  of  your  faith  in 
my  word  and  my  love.  Are  you  too  much  of  a  woman 
to  curb  your  imagination  in  a  long  unbroken  silence?" 

"I  have  learned  so  much  that  one  lesson  more  is  no 
tax  on  my  faith.  And  I  no  longer  live  in  a  world  of 


REZANOV  167 

little  things.  I  promise  you  that  I  shall  never  falter  nor 
doubt." 

He  bent  his  head  and  kissed  her  for  the  first  time 
without  passion,  but  solemnly,  as  had  their  nuptials 
indeed  been  accomplished,  and  the  greater  mystery  of 
spiritual  union  isolated  them  for  a  moment  in  that  twi 
light  region  where  the  mortal  part  did  not  enter. 

As  they  left  the  church  they  saw  that  all  the  Indians 
of  the  Mission  and  neighborhood,  in  a  gala  of  color, 
had  gathered  to  cheer  the  Russians  as  they  rode  away. 
Concha  was  to  return  as  she  had  come,  beside  the  carreta 
of  her  mother,  and  as  Rezanov  mounted  his  horse  she 
stood  staring  with  unseeing  eyes  on  the  brilliant  ani 
mated  scene.  Suddenly  she  heard  a  suppressed  sob,  and 
felt  a  touch  on  frer  skirt.  She  looked  round  and  saw 
Rosa,  kneeling  close  to  the  church.  For  a  moment 
she  continued  to  stare,  hardly  comprehending,  in  the 
intense  concentration  of  her  faculties,  that  tangible 
beings,  other  than  herself  and  Rezanov,  still  moved  on 
the  earth.  Then  her  mind  relaxed.  She  was  normal 
in  a  normal  world  once  more.  She  stooped  and  patted 
the  hands  clasping  her  skirts. 

"Poor  Rosa!"  she  said.     "Poor  Rosa!" 

Over  the  intense  green  of  islands  and  hills  were 
long  banners  of  yellow  and  purple  mist,  where  the  wild 
flowers  were  lifting  their  heads.  The  whole  quivering 
bay  was  as  green  as  the  land,  but  far  away  the  moun 
tains  of  the  east  were  pink.  Where  there  was  a  patch 
of  verdure  on  the  sand  hills  the  warm  golden  red  of 
the  poppy  flaunted  in  the  sunshine.  All  nature  was  in 
gala  attire  like  the  Californians  themselves,  as,  the  Juno 
under  full  sail  sped  through  "The  Mouth  of  the  Gulf 
of  the  Farallones."  Fort  San  Joaquin  saluted  with 
seven  guns;  the  Juno  returned  the  compliment  with 
nine.  The  Commandante,  his  family  and  guests,  stood 
on  the  hill  above  the  fort,  cheering,  waving  sombreros 
and  handkerchiefs.  "Wind  and  tide  carried  the  ship 
rapidly  out  the  straits.  Rezanov  dropped  the  cocked 


168  REZANOV 

hat  he  had  been  waving  and  raised  his  field-glass. 
Concha,  as  ever,  stood  a  little  apart.  As  the  ship  grew 
smaller  and  the  company  turned  toward  the  Presidio, 
she  advanced  to  the  edge  of  the  bluff.  The  wind  lifted 
her  loosened  mantilla,  billowing  it  out  on  one  side,  and 
as  she  stood  with  her  hands  pressed  against  her  heart, 
she  might,  save  for  her  empty  arms,  have  been  the 
eidolon  of  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto.  In  her  eyes  was 
the  same  expression  of  vague  arrested  horror  as  she 
looked  out  on  that  world  of  menacing  imperfections  the 
blind  forces  of  nature  and  man  had  created;  her  body 
was  instinct  with  the  same  nervous  leashed  impotent 
energy. 


XXV 

THE  white  rain  clouds,  rolling  as  ever  like  a  nervous 
intruder  over  the  great  snow  peaks  behind  the  steep 
hills  black  with  forest  that  rose  like  a  wall  back  of  the 
little  settlement  of  Sitka,  parted  for  a  moment,  and  the 
sun,  a  coy  disdainful  guest,  flung  a  glittering  mist  over 
what  Nature  had  intended  to  be  one  of  the  most  enchant 
ing  spots  on  earth,  until,  in  a  fit  of  ill-temper — with  one 
of  the  gods,  no  doubt — she  gave  it  to  Niobe  as  a  per 
manent  outlet  for  her  discontent.  "When  it  does  not 
rain  at  Sitka  it  pours,  and  when  once  in  a  way  she 
draws  a  deep  breath  of  respite  and  lifts  her  grand  and 
glorious  face  to  the  sun,  .in  pathetic  gratitude  for  dear 
infrequent  favor,  comes  a  wild  flurry  of  snow  or  a  close 
white  fog  from  the  inland  waters;  and,  like  a  great 
beauty  condemned  to  wear  a  veil  through  life,  she  can 
but  stare  in  dumb  resentment  through  the  folds,  con 
soling  herself  with  the  knowledge  that  could  the  world 
but  see  it  must  surely  worship.  Perhaps,  who  knows? 
she  really  is  a  frozen  goddess,  condemned  to  the  veil  for 
infidelity  to  him  imprisoned  in  the  great  volcano  across 
the  sound — who  sends  up  a  column  of  light  once  in  a 
way  to  dazzle  her  shrouded  eyes,  and  failing  that  bat 
ters  her  with  rock  and  stone  like  any  lover  of  the  slums. 
One  day  he  spat  forth  a  rock  like  a  small  hill,  and  big 
enough  to  dominate  the  strip  of  lowland  at  least,  stand 
ing  out  on  the  edge  of  the  island  like  a  guard  at  the 
gates,  and  never  a  part  of  the  alien  surface.  Between 
this  lofty  rock  and  the  forest  was  the  walled  settlement 
of  New  Archangel,  that  Baranhov,  the  dauntless,  had 
wrested  from  the  bloodthirsty  Kolosh  but  a  short  time 
since  and  purposed  to  hold  in  the  interest  of  the  Russian- 
American  Company.  His  log  hut,  painted  like  the  other 

169 


170  REZANOV 

buildings  with  a  yellow  ochre  found  in  the  soil,  stood 
on  the  rock,  and  his  glass  swept  the  forest  as  often  as 
the  sea. 

As  Rezanov,  on  the  second  of  July,  thirty-one  days 
after  leaving  San  Francisco,  sailed  into  the  harbor  with 
its  hundred  bits  of  volcanic  woodland  weeping  as  ever, 
he  gave  a  whimsical  sigh  in  tribute  to  the  gay  and  ever- 
changing  beauties  of  the  southern  land,  but  was  in  no 
mood  for  sentimental  reminiscence.  Natives,  paddling 
eagerly  out  to  sea  in  their  bidarkas  to  be  the  first  to 
bring  in  good  news  or  bad,  had  given  him  a  report  cover 
ing  the  period  of  his  absence  that  filled  him  with  dismay. 
There  had  been  deaths  from  scurvy;  one  of  the  largest 
ships  belonging  to  the  Company  had  been  wrecked  and 
the  entire  cargo  lost;  of  a  hunting  party  of  three  hun 
dred  Aleuts  in  one  hundred  and  forty  bidarkas,  which 
had  gone  from  Sitka  to  Kadiak  in  November  of  the  pre 
ceding  year,  not  one  had  arrived  at  its  destination,  and 
there  was  reason  to  believe  that  all  had  been  drowned 
or  massacred;  and  the  Russians  and  Aleuts  at  Behring's 
Bay  settlement  had  been  exterminated  by  one  of  the 
native  tribes. 

But  the  Juno  was  received  with  salvos  of  artillery 
from  the  fort,  and  cheered  by  the  entire  population 
of  the  settlement,  crowded  on  the  beach.  Baranhov, 
looking  like  a  monkey  with  a  mummy's  head  in  which 
only  a  pair  of  incomparably  shrewd  eyes  still  lived, 
his  black  wig  fastened  on  his  bald  red-fringed  pate  with 
a  silk  handkerchief  tied  under  his  chin,  stood,  hands 
on  hips,  shaking  with  excitement  and  delight.  The 
bearded  long-haired  priests,  in  full  canonicals  of  black 
and  gold,  were  beside  the  Chief-Manager,  ready  to  escort 
the  Chamberlain  to  the  chapel  at  the  head  of  the  solitary 
street,  where  the  bells  were  pealing  and  a  mass  of  thanks 
giving  was  to  be  said  for  his  safe  return. 

But  it  was  some  time  before  Rezanov  could  reach  the 
chapel  or  even  exchange  salutations  with  Baranhov.  As 
he  stepped  on  shore  he  was  surrounded,  almost  hustled 
by  the  shouting  crowd  of  Russians — many  of  them  con- 


REZANOV  171 

victs — Aleuts  and  Sitkans,  who  knelt  at  his  feet,  endeav 
ored  to  kiss  his  hand,  his  garments,  in  their  hysterical 
gratitude  for  the  food  he  had  brought  them.  For  the 
first  time  he  felt  reconciled  to  his  departure  from  Cali 
fornia,  and  Concha's  image  faded  as  he  looked  at  the 
tearful  faces  of  the  diseased  ill-nourished  wretches  who 
gave  their  mite  of  life  that  he  might  live  as  became  a 
great  noble  of  the  Russian  Empire.  But  although  he 
tingled  with  pleasure  and  was  deeply  moved,  he  by  no 
means  swelled  with  vanity,  for  he  was  far  too  clear 
sighted  to  doubt  he  had  done  more  than  his  duty,  or 
that  his  duty  was  more  than  begun.  He  made  them  a 
little  speech,  giving  his  word  they  should  be  properly 
fed  hereafter,  that  he  would  make  the  improvement  of 
their  condition  as  well  as  that  of  all  the  employees  of 
the  Company  throughout  this  vast  chain  of  settlements 
on  the  Pacific,  the  chief  consideration  of  his  life;  and 
they  believed  him  and  followed  him  to  the  chapel  rejoic 
ing,  reconciled  for  once  to  their  lot. 

After  the  service  Rezanov  went  up  to  the  hut  of  the 
Chief-Manager,  a  habitation  that  leaked  winter  and  sum 
mer,  and  was  equally  deficient  in  light,  ventilation  and 
order.  But  Baranhov  in  the  sixteen  years  of  his  exile 
had  forgotten  the  bare  lineaments  of  comfort,  and  de 
voted  his  days  to  advancing  the  interests  of  the  Com 
pany,  his  nights,  save  when  sleep  overcame  him,  to  pota 
tions  that  would  have  buried  an  ordinary  man  under 
Alaskan  snows  long  before.  But  Baranhov  had  fourteen 
years  more  of  good  service  in  him,  and  rescued  the  Com 
pany  from  insolvency  again  and  again,  nor  ever  played 
into  the  hands  of  marauding  foreigners;  with  brain  on 
fire  he  was  shrewder  than  the  soberest. 

He  listened  with  deep  satisfaction  to  the  Chamber 
lain's  account  of  his  success  with  the  Calif ornians  and 
his  glowing  pictures  of  the  country,  nodding  every  few 
moments  with  emphatic  approval.  But  as  the  story 
finished  his  wonderful  eyes  were  two  bubbling  springs  of 
humor,  and  Rezanov,  who  knew  him  well,  recrossed  his 
legs  nervously. 


172  REZANOV 

"What  is  it?"  he  asked.  "What  have  I  done  now? 
Remember  that  you  have  been  in  this  business  for  six 
teen  years,  and  I  one " 

"How  many  measures  of  corn  did  you  say  you  had 
brought,  Excellency?" 

"Two  hundred  and  ninety-four,"  replied  Rezanov 
proudly. 

"A  provision  that  exceeds  my  most  sanguine  hopes. 
The  only  thing  that  mitigates  my  satisfaction  is  that 
there  is  not  a  mill  in  the  settlement  to  grind  it." 

Rezanov  sprang  to  his  feet  with  a  violent  exclamation, 
his  face  very  red.  There  was  no  one  whose  good  opinion 
he  valued  as  he  did  that  of  this  brilliant,  dissipated, 
disinterested  old  genius;  and  he  felt  like  a  schoolboy. 
But  although  he  started  for  the  door,  he  recovered 
half-way,  and  reseating  himself  joined  in  the  laughter 
of  the  little  man  who  was  rocking  back  and  forth  on  his 
bench,  his  weazened  leg  clasped  against  his  shrunken 
chest. 

"How  on  earth  was  I  to  know  all  your  domestic 
arrangements?"  he  said  testily.  "God  knows  I  found 
them  limited  enough  last  winter,  but  it  never  occurred 
to  me  there  was  any  mysterious  process  involved  in  con 
verting  corn  into  meal.  Is  it  quite  useless,  then?" 

"Oh,  no,  we  can  boil  or  roast  it.  It  will  dispose  of 
what  teeth  we  have  left,  but  that  will  serve  the  good 
purpose  of  reminding  us  always  of  your  excellency's 
interest  in  our  welfare." 

Rezanov  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Give  the  corn  to 
the  natives.  It  is  farinaceous  at  all  events.  And  you 
can  have  nothing  to  say  against  the  flour  I  have  brought, 
and  the  peas,  beans,  tallow,  butter,  barley,  salt,  and 
salted  meats — in  all  to  the  value  of  twenty-four  thousand 
Spanish  dollars." 

The  Chief-Manager's  head  nodded  with  the  vigor  and 
rapidity  of  a  mechanical  toy.  "It  is  a  God-send,  a  God 
send.  If  you  did  no  more  than  that  you  would  have 
earned  our  everlasting  gratitude.  It  will  make  us  over, 


REZANOV  173 

give  us  renewed  courage  in  this  cursed  existence.  Are 
you  not  going  to  get  me  out  of  it?" 

Rezanov  shook  his  head  with  a  smile.  "Literally  you 
are  the  whole  Company.  As  long  as  I  live  here  you 
stay — although  when  I  reach  St.  Petersburg  I  shall  see 
that  you  receive  every  possible  reward  and  honor." 

Baranhov  lifted  his  shoulders  to  his  ears  in  quizzical 
resignation.  "I  suppose  it  matters  little  where  the  last 
few  years  left  me  are  spent,  and  I  can  hang  the  medals 
on  the  walls  to  console  me  when  I  have  rheumatism, 
and  shout  my  titles  from  the  top  of  the  fort  when  the 
Kolosh  are  yelling  at  the  barricades." 

"You  must  make  yourself  more  comfortable,"  said 
Rezanov  emphatically.  "You  are  wrong  to  carry  your 
honesty  and  enthusiasm  to  the  point  of  living  like  the 
promuschleniki.  Take  enough  of  their  time  to  build 
you  a  comfortable  dwelling,  and  I  will  send  you,  on  my 
own  account,  far  more  substantial  rewards  than  orders 
and  titles.  Build  a  big  house,  for  that  matter.  I  shall 
be  here  more  or  less — when  I  am  not  in  California." 
And  he  told  Baranhov  of  his  proposed  marriage  with 
the  daughter  of  Don  Jose  Argiiello. 

The  Chief-Manager  listened  to  this  confidence  with 
an  even  livelier  satisfaction  than  to  the  list  of  the  Juno's 
cargo. 

"We  shall  have  California  yet!"  he  cried,  his  eyes 
snapping  like  live  coals  under  the  black  thatch  of  wig. 
"Absorption  or  the  bayonet.  It  matters  little.  Ten 
years  from  now  and  we  shall  have  a  line  of  settlements 
as  far  south  as  San  Diego.  My  plan  was  to  feel  my  way 
down  the  northern  coast  of  California  with  a  colony, 
which  should  buy  a  tract  of  land  from  the  natives  and 
engage  immediately  in  otter  hunting — somewhere  be 
tween  Cape  Mendocino  and  Drake's  Bay.  The  Spanish 
have  no  settlements  above  San  Francisco  and  are  too 
weak  to  drive  us  out.  They  would  rage  and  bluster  and 
do  nothing.  Then  quietly  push  forward,  building  forts 
and  ships.  But  you  have  taken  hold  in  the  grand  man 
ner  and  will  accomplish  in  ten  years  what  would  have 


174  REZANOV 

taken  me  fifty.  Marry  this  girl,  use  your  advantage 
over  the  entire  family — whose  influence  I  well  know — 
and  that  great  personal  power  with  which  the  Almighty 
has  been  so  lavish,  and  you  will  have  the  whole  weakly 
garrisoned  country  under  your  foot  before  they  know 
where  they  are,  and  the  Russian  settlers  pouring  in. 
Spain  cannot  come  to  the  rescue  while  this  devil  Bona 
parte  is  alive,  and  he  is  young,  and  like  yourself  a 
favorite  of  destiny.  Those  damned  Bostonians  inherit 
the  grabbing  instincts  of  the  too  paternal  race  they  have 
just  rejected,  but  there  are  thousands  of  miles  of  desert 
between  California  and  their  own  western  outposts,  hun 
dreds  of  savage  tribes  to  exterminate.  By  the  time  they 
were  in  a  position  to  attempt  the  occupation  of  Cali 
fornia  we  should  be  so  securely  entrenched  they  would 
either  let  us  alone  or  send  troops  that  would  be  half 
dead  by  the  time  they  reached  us.  As  to  ships,  we 
could  soon  build  enough  at  Okhotsk  and  Petropaulovsky 
for  our  purpose.  For  the  matter  of  that,  if  your  gifted 
tongue  impressed  the  Tsar  with  the  riches  of  California 
there  would  always  be  war  ships  on  her  coast."  He 
leaned  forward  and  caught  the  strong  shoulders  above 
him  in  hands  that  looked  like  a  tangle  of  baked  nerves, 
and  shook  them  vigorously.  "You  are  a  great  boy!" 
he  said  with  a  sort  of  quizzical  solemnity.  "A  great 
boy.  This  damned,  God-forsaken,  pestilential,  demoraliz 
ing,  brutalizing  factory  for  enriching  a  few  with  the 
very  life  blood  and  vitals  of  thousands  that  will  suffer 
and  starve  and  never  be  heard  of"  (all  his  language 
cannot  be  recorded),  "will  make  two  or  three  reputa 
tions  by  the  way.  Mine  will  be  one,  although  I'll  get 
nothing  else.  Shelikov  is  safe;  but  you  will  have  a 
monument.  "Well,  God  bless  you.  I  grudge  you  nothing. 
Not  even  the  happiness  you  deserve  and  are  bound  to 
have — for  when  all  is  said  and  done,  Rezanov,  you  are  a 
lucky  dog,  a  lucky  dog!  Any  man  may  see  that,  even 
when  these  infernal  snows  have  left  him  with  but  half 
an  eye.  To  quarrel  with  a  destiny  like  yours  would 
be  as  great  a  waste  of  time  as  to  protest  that  California 


REZANOV  175 

is  warm  and  fertile,  while  this  infernal  North  is  like  liv 
ing  in  a  refrigerator  with  the  deluge  to  vary  the  monot 
ony.  Now  let  us  get  drunk!" 

But  Rezanov  laughingly  extricated  himself,  and  send 
ing  a  message  to  Davidov  and  Khostov  to  come  to  him 
immediately,  walked  toward  the  tent  he  had  ordered 
erected  on  the  edge  of  the  settlement;  only  the  worst 
of  weather  drove  him  indoors  in  these  half-civilized  com 
munities. 

As  he  was  passing  the  chapel,  followed  again  by  the 
employees  of  the  Company,  to  whom  he  had  granted  a 
holiday,  he  suddenly  found  his  hand  taken  possession  of, 
and  looked  up  to  see  himself  confronted  by  a  dissipated- 
looking  person  in  plain  clothes.  His  hand  became  so 
limp  that  it  was  dropped  as  if  it  had  put  forth  a  sting, 
and  he  narrowed  his  eyes  and  demanded  with  a  bend  of 
his  mouth  that  brought  the  blood  to  the  face  of  the 
intruder : 

' '  And  who  are  you,  may  I  ask  ? ' ' 

The  man  threw  back  his  head  defiantly.  "I  am 
Lieutenant  Sookin  of  the  Imperial  Navy  of  Russia," 
he  said  in  a  loud  defiant  tone. 

"And  I  am  Chamberlain  of  the  Russian  Court  and 
Commander  of  all  America,"  replied  Rezanov  coolly. 
"Now  go  to  your  quarters,  dress  yourself  in  your  uni 
form,  and  present  your  report  to  me  an  hour  hence. ' ' 

The  officer,  concentrating  in  his  injected  eyes  all  the 
lively  hatred  and  jealousy  of  his  service  for  the  Russian- 
American  Company  in  this  region  where  it  reigned 
supreme  and  cared  no  more  for  the  Admiralty  than  for 
some  native  chieftain  covered  with  shells  and  warpaint, 
glared  at  its  plenipotentiary  as  if  calling  upon  his  deeper 
resources  of  insolence;  but  the  steady  contemptuous 
gaze  of  the  man  who  had  dealt  with  his  kind  often  and 
successfully  overcame  his  sodden  spirit,  and  he  turned 
sulkily  and  slouched  off  to  his  quarters  to  console  him 
self  with  more  brandy.  Rezanov  shrugged  his  shoulders 
and  went  on  to  his  tent. 

There  was  no  furniture  in   it  as  yet,  and  he  was 


176  REZANOV 

obliged  to  receive  Davidov  and  Khostov  standing,  but 
this  he  preferred.  They  followed  him.  almost  immedi 
ately,  apprehensive  and  nervous,  and  before  speaking 
he  looked  at  them  for  a  moment  with  his  strong  pene 
trating  gaze.  He  well  knew  the  power  of  his  own  per 
sonality,  and  that  it  was  immeasurably  enhanced  by  the 
fact  that  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do  in  these  be 
nighted  regions  his  will  alone  was  never  weakened  by 
liquor.  These  young  men,  clever,  high-bred,  with  an 
honorable  record  not  only  in  Russia,  but  in  England  and 
America,  looked  upon  a  hilarious  night  as  the  just 
reward  of  work  well  done  by  day.  Brandy  was  debited 
to  their  account  by  the  "bucket"  (a  bucket  being  a 
trifle  less  than  two  gallons),  and  they  found  little  fault 
with  life.  But  it  gave  a  commanding  spirit  like  Re- 
zanov's  an  advantage  which  they  did  not  underestimate 
for  a  moment;  and  they  alternately  hated  and  wor 
shiped  him. 

"I  think  you  have  an  inkling  of  what  I  am  going 
to  ask  you  to  do."  The  Chamberlain  brought  out  the 
euphemism  with  the  utmost  suavity.  "I  have  made  up 
my  mind  not  to  ignore  the  indignity  to  which  Russia  was 
subjected  last  year  by  Japan,  but  to  inflict  upon  it  such 
punishment  as  I  find  it  in  my  power  to  compass.  It  was 
my  intention  to  build  a  flotilla  here,  but  owing  to  the 
diseased  condition  and  reduced  numbers  of  the  em 
ployees,  that  was  impossible,  and  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
content  myself  with  the  Juno  and  the  Avos,  whose  keel, 
as  you  know,  was  laid  in  November,  and  is  no  doubt 
finished  long  since.  These  I  shall  fit  with  armaments 
in  Okhotsk.  I  shall  place  the  enterprise  I  have  spoken 
of  in  your  charge,  sailing  with  you  from  Sitka  five 
days  hence.  From  Okhotsk  I  desire  that  you  proceed  to 
the  Japanese  settlements  in  the  lower  Kurile  Islands, 
take  possession  of  them  and  bring  all  stores  and  as 
many  of  the  inhabitants  as  the  vessels  will  accommo 
date,  to  Sitka,  where  Baranhov  will  see  that  they  are 
comfortably  established  on  that  large  island  in  the 
harbor — which  we  shall  call  Japonsky — and  converted 


REZANOV  177 

into  good  servants  of  the  Company.  The  excuse  for  this 
enterprise  is  that  those  islands  were  formally  taken  pos 
session  of  by  Shelikov;  and  although  abandoned  later, 
the  fact  remains  that  the  Russian  flag  was  the  first  to 
float  over  them.  The  stores  captured  may  not  be  worth 
much  and  the  islands  are  of  no  particular  use  to  us, 
but  it  is  wise  that  Japan  should  have  a  taste  of  Russian 
power;  and  the  consequences  may  be  salutary  in  more 
ways  than  one.  I  hope  you  will  do  me  this  great  favor, 
for  there  is  no  one  of  your  tried  probity  and  skill  to 
whom  I  can  trust  so  delicate  an  enterprise.  I  am  doing 
it  wholly  upon  my  own  responsibility,  for  although  I 
wrote  tentatively  to  the  Tsar  on  this  subject  before  I 
mailed  for  California,  it  is  not  yet  time  for  a  reply. 
However,  I  take  the  consequences  upon  my  own  shoul 
ders.  You  shall  not  suffer  in  any  way,  for  your  orders 
are  to  obey  mine  while  you  remain  in  these  waters." 

He  paused  a  moment,  and  then  suddenly  smiled  into 
the  unresponsive  faces  before  him.  He  held  out  his 
hand  and  shook  their  limp  ones  warmly. 

"Let  me  thank  you  here  for  all  your  inestimable 
services  in  the  past,  and  particularly  during  our  late 
hazardous  voyages.  Be  sure  that  whether  you  succeed 
in  this  enterprise  or  not,  your  rewards  shall  be  no  less 
for  what  you  have  already  done.  I  shall  make  it  a 
personal  matter  with  the  Tsar.  You  shall  have  promo 
tion  and  a  substantial  increase  in  pay,  besides  the  orders 
and  Imperial  thanks  you  so  richly  deserve.  Lest  any 
thing  happen  to  me  on  my  homeward  journey,  I  shall 
write  to  St.  Petersburg  before  I  leave." 

The  lieutenants,  overcome  as  ever  when  he  chose  to 
put  forth  his  full  powers,  assured  him  of  their  fidelity 
and,  if  with  misgivings,  vowed  to  mete  vengeance  to 
the  Japanese.  And  although  their  misgivings  were  not 
unfounded,  and  they  paid  a  high  price  in  suffering  and 
mortification,  they  accomplished  their  object  and  in  due 
course  received  the  rewards  the  Chamberlain  had 
promised  them. 

They  did  not  retire,  and  Rezanov,  noting  their  sud- 


178  REZANOV 

den  hesitation  and  embarrassment,  felt  an  instant  thrill 
of  apprehension. 

1 '  What  is  it  ?"  he  demanded.    ' '  "What  has  happened  ? ' ' 

"Life  has  moved  slowly  in  Sitka  during  your  absence, 
Excellency,"  replied  Davidov.  "There  has  been  little 
work  done  on  the  Avos.  It  will  not  be  finished  for  a 
month  or  six  weeks. ' ' 

Then,  had  the  young  men  been  possessed  by  a  not 
infrequent  mood,  they  would  have  glowed  with  a  sense 
of  just  satisfaction.  Rezanov  felt  himself  turn  so  white 
that  he  wheeled  about  and  left  the  tent.  A  month  or  six 
weeks !  And  the  speed  and  safety  of  his  journey  across 
Siberia  depended  upon  his  making  the  greater  part  of 
it  before  the  heavy  autumn  rains  swelled  the  rivers  and 
flooded  the  swamps.  Winter  or  summer  the  journey 
from  Okhotsk  to  St.  Petersburg  might  be  made  in  four 
months ;  with  the  wealth  and  influence  at  his  command, 
possibly  in  less ;  but  in  the  deluge  between  he  was  liable 
to  detentions  lasting  nearly  as  long  again,  to  say  nothing 
of  illness  caused  by  inevitable  exposure. 

He  stood  staring  at  the  palisades  for  many  minutes. 
The  separation  must  be  long  enough,  the  dangers  numer 
ous  enough  if  he  started  within  the  week,  but  at  least  he 
had  in  a  measure  accustomed  himself  to  the  idea  of  not 
seeing  Concha  again  for  "the  best  part  of  two  years," 
and  the  sanguineness  of  his  temperament  had  led  him  to 
hope  that  the  time  might  be  reduced  to  eighteen  months. 
If  he  delayed  too  long,  only  by  means  of  an  unprecedent 
ed  run  of  good  fortune  would  he  reach  St.  Petersburg  but 
a  month  behind  his  calculations.  And  the  chances  were 
in  favor  of  four,  or  three  at  the  best!  Never  since  the 
morning  that  the  real  nature  of  his  feeling  for  Concha 
had  declared  itself  had  he  yearned  toward  her  as  at 
that  moment ;  never  since  the  dictum  of  what  she  called 
their  "tribunal"  had  he  so  rebelled  against  the  long 
delay.  And  yet  he  hesitated.  To  leave  Japan  unpun 
ished  for  the  senseless  humiliations  to  which  it  had 
subjected  Russia  in  his  person  was  not  to  be  thought 
of,  and  yet  did  he  leave  without  seeing  the  Avos  finished, 


REZANOV  179 

the  two  boats  supplied  with  armaments  at  Ohkotsk,  and 
under  way  before  he  started  across  Siberia,  he  knew 
it  was  doubtful  if  the  expedition  took  place  before  his 
return;  in  that  case  might  never  take  place,  for  these 
two  young  men  might  have  drifted  elsewhere,  and  he 
knew  no  one  else  to  whom  he  could  entrust  such  a 
commission.  In  spite  of  their  idiosyncrasies  he  could 
rely  upon  them  implicitly — up  to  a  certain  point.  That 
point  involved  keeping  them  in  sight  until  exactly  the 
right  moment  and  leaving  nothing  to  their  executive 
which  could  be  certainly  accomplished  by  himself  alone. 
Did  he  sail  five  days  hence  on  the  Juno  one  of  the  offi 
cers  would  be  exposed  for  an  indeterminate  time  to  the 
temptations  of  Okhotsk,  the  ship,  perhaps,  at  the  mercy 
of  some  sudden  requirement  of  the  Company.  His 
authority  was  absolute  when  enforced  in  person,  but  it 
was  a  proverb  west  of  the  Ural:  "God  reigns  and  the 
Tsar  is  far  away."  If  the  Juno  were  wanted  the  man 
ager  at  Okhotsk  would  argue  that  two 'years  was  a  period 
in  which  an  ardent  servant  of  the  Company  could  find 
many  an  excuse  to  justify  its  seizure. 

And  here  in  Sitka  it  was  doubtful  if  the  work  on 
the  Avos  proceeded  at  all.  Baranhov  was  not  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  enterprise  against  the  Japanese,  fear 
ing  the  consequences  to  himself  in  the  event  of  the  Tsar 's 
disapproval,  and  resenting  the  impressment  of  the  pro- 
muschleniki  into  a  service  that  deprived  him  of  their 
legitimate  work.  Moreover,  although  he  loved  Rezanov 
personally,  he  had  enjoyed  supreme  power  in  the  wilder 
ness  too  long  not  to  chafe  under  even  the  temporary 
assumption  of  authority  by  his  high-handed  superior. 
With  the  best  of  intentions  Davidov  could  make  little 
headway  against  the  passive  resistance  of  the  Chief- 
Manager,  and  those  intentions  would  be  weakened  by 
the  consolations  the  Company  so  generously  afforded. 

The  result  was  hardly  open  to  doubt.  If  he  left 
Sitka  before  the  completion  of  the  Avos,  Russia  would 
go  unavenged  for  the  present.  Or  himself?  Rezanov, 
sanguine  and  imaginative  as  he  was,  even  to  the  point 


180  REZANOV 

of  creating  premises  to  rhyme  with  ends,  was  very  honest 
fundamentally.  He  turned  abruptly  on  his  heel,  and 
calling  to  the  officers  that  he  would  announce  his  deci 
sion  on  the  morrow,  ordered  the  sentry  to  open  the  gate 
and  passed  out  of  the  enclosure. 

He  crossed  the  clearing  and  entered  the  forest.  The 
warlike  tribes  themselves  had  trodden  paths  through 
the  dense  undergrowth  of  young  trees  and  ferns.  Re 
zanov,  despite  Baranhov's  warning,  had  tramped  the 
forest  many  times.  It  was  the  one  thing  that  recon 
ciled  him  to  Sitka,  for  there  are  few  woods  more  beau 
tiful.  In  spite  or  because  of  the  incessant  rains,  it  is 
pervaded  by  a  rich  golden  gloom,  the  result  of  the 
constant  rotting  of  the  brown  and  yellow  bark,  not  only 
of  the  prostrate  trees,  but  of  the  many  killed  by  crowd 
ing  and  unable  to  seek  the  earth  with  the  natural  instinct 
of  death.  And  above,  the  green  of  hemlock  and  spruce 
was  perennially  fresh  and  young,  glistening  and  fra 
grant.  Here  and  there  was  a  small  clearing  where  the 
clans  had  erected  their  ingenious  and  hideous  totem 
poles,  out  of  place  in  the  ancient  beauty  of  the  wood. 

The  ferns  brushed  his  waist,  the  roar  of  the  river 
came  to  his  ears,  the  forest  had  never  looked  more  pri 
meval,  more  wooing  to  a  man  burdened  with  civilization, 
but  Rezanov  gave  it  less  heed  than  usual,  although  he 
had  turned  to  it  instinctively.  He  was  occupied  with  a 
question  to  which  nature  would  turn  an  aloof  disdain 
ful  ear.  "Was  his  own  wounded  vanity  at  the  root  of  his 
desire  to  humiliate  Japan?  Russia  was  too  powerful, 
too  occupied,  for  the  present  at  least,  greatly  to  care 
that  her  overtures  and  presents  had  been  scorned.  Upon 
her  ambassador  had  fallen  the  full  brunt  of  that  weari 
some  and  incomparably  mortifying  experience,  and  un 
fortunately  the  ambassador  happened  to  be  one  of  the 
proudest  and  most  autocratic  men  in  her  empire.  No 
man  of  Rezanov 's  caliber  but  accommodates  that  sort  of 
personal  vanity  that  tenaciously  resents  a  blow  to  the 
pride  of  which  it  is  a  part,  to  the  love  of  power  it  feeds. 
As  well  expect  a  lover  without  passion,  a  state  without 


REZANOV  181 

corruption.  Rezanov  finally  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
admitted  the  impeachment,  but  at  the  same  time  he  rec 
ognized  that  the  desire  for  vengeance  still  held,  and  that 
the  tenacity  of  his  nature,  a  tenacity  that  had  been  no 
mean  factor  in  the  remodeling  of  himself  from  a  volup 
tuous  young  sprig  of  nobility  into  one  of  the  most  suc 
cessful  business  men  and  subjugator  of  other  men  that 
the  Russian  Empire  could  show,  was  not  likely  to  weaken 
when  its  very  roots  had  been  stiff  with  purpose  for  fif 
teen  months.  Power  had  been  Rezanov 's  ruling  passion 
for  many  years  before  he  met  Concha  Argiiello,  and, 
although  it  might  mate  very  comfortably  with  love,  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  it  would  remain  submerged 
beyond  the  first  enthusiasm,  nor  even  assume  the  posi 
tion  of  the  "party  of  the  second  part."  Rezanov  was 
Rezanov.  He  w*as  also  in  that  interval  between  youth 
and  age  when  the  brain  rules  if  it  is  ever  to  rule  at  all. 
That  the  ardor  of  his  nature  had  awakened  refreshed 
after  a  long  sleep  was  but  just  proved,  as  well  as  the 
revival  of  his  early  ideals  and  capacity  for  genuine  love ; 
but  the  complexities,  the  manifold  interests  and  desires 
of  the  ego  had  been  growing  and  developing  these  many 
years ;  and  no  mere  mortal  that  has  given  up  his  life  for 
a  considerable  period  to  the  thirst  for  dominance  can 
ever,  save  in  a  brief  exaltation,  sacrifice  it  to  anything 
so  normal  as  the  demands  of  sex  and  spirit.  For  good 
or  ill,  the  man  who  has  burned  with  ambition,  exulted 
in  the  exercise  of  power,  bitterly  resented  the  tempo 
rary  victories  of  rivals  and  enemies,  fought  with  all  the 
resources  of  brain  and  character  against  failure,  is  in 
a  class  apart  from  humanity  in  the  mass.  Rezanov 
loved  Concha  Argiiello  to  the  very  depths  of  his  soul, 
but  he  had  lived  beyond  the  time  when  even  she  could 
engage  successfully  with  the  ruthless  forces  that  had 
molded  into  immutable  shape  the  Rezanov  she  knew. 
Her  place  was  second,  and  it  is  probable  that  she  would 
have  loved  him  less  had  it  been  otherwise ;  she,  in  spite 
of  her  fine  intellect  and  strong  will,  being  all  woman, 
as  he,  despite  his  depth  of  intuition,  was  all  man.  Equal- 


182  REZANOV 

ity  is  possible  in  no  relation  or  condition  of  life.  When 
woman  subjugates  man  the  conquered  will  enjoy  a 
sense  of  revenge  proportionate  to  the  meanness  of  his 
state. 

It  is  possible  that  had  Concha  awaited  Rezanov  in  St. 
Petersburg  her  attraction  would  have  focused  his  desires 
irresistibly;  but  his  mind  had  resigned  itself  to  the 
prospect  of  separation  for  a  definite  period,  and  while  it 
had  not  relegated  her  image  to  the  background,  her  part 
in  his  life  had  been  settled  there  among  many  future 
possibilities,  and  all  the  foreground  was  crowded  with 
the  impatient  symbols  of  the  intervening  time.  More 
over,  he  well  knew  that  the  savor  would  be  gone  from 
his  happiness  with  the  woman  were  the  taste  of  another 
failure  acrid  in  his  mouth. 

As  he  realized  that  the  die  was  cast,  the  sanguineness 
of  his  temperament  rushed  to  do  battle  against  appre 
hension  and  self-accusing.  After  all,  he  was  rarely 
balked  of  his  way,  accustomed  to  ride  down  obstacles, 
to  the  amiable  cooperation  of  fate.  He  could  arrive  in 
Okhotsk  late  in  September  or  early  in  October.  Captain 
D'Wolf,  who  had  been  detained  at  Sitka  during  his  ab 
sence  by  the  same  indifference  that  had  operated  against 
the  completion  of  the  Avos,  would  precede  him  and  order 
that  all  be  in  readiness  at  Okhotsk  both  for  the  ships 
and  his  journey  to  Yakutsk.  He  could  proceed  at  once ; 
and,  no  doubt,  with  twice  the  number  of  horses  needed, 
would  make  the  first  and  most  difficult  stage  of  the  jour 
ney  in  the  usual  time,  and  with  no  great  embarrassment 
from  the  rains.  From  Yakutsk  to  Irkutsk  the  greater 
part  of  the  travel  was  by  water  in  any  case,  and  after 
that  the  land  was  flat  for  the  most  part  and  bridges  were 
more  numerous.  The  governor  of  every  town  in  Siberia 
would  be  his  obsequious  servant,  the  entire  resources  of 
the  country  would  be  at  his  disposal.  He  was  sound  in 
health  again,  as  resistant  against  hardships  as  when  he 
had  sailed  from  Kronstadt.  And  God  knew,  he  thought 
with  a  sigh,  his  will  and  purpose  had  never  been 
stronger. 


XXVI 

REZANOV  disembarked  from  the  Juno  at  Okhotsk  during 
the  first  days  of  October.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  touch 
of  fever  that  had  returned  in  the  filth  and  warm  damp 
ness  of  Sitka,  he  would  have  felt  almost  as  buoyant  in 
mind  and  body  as  in  those  days  when  California  had 
gone  to  his  head.  The  Juno  had  touched  at  Kadiak, 
Oonalaska,  and  others  of  the  more  important  settle 
ments,  and  he  had  found  his  schools  and  libraries  in 
good  condition,  seals  and  otters  rapidly  increasing  in 
their  immunity  from  indiscriminate  slaughter,  new  and 
stronger  forts  threatening  the  nefarious  Bostonian  and 
Briton.  At  Okhotsk  he  learned  that  the  embassy  of 
Count  Golofkin  to  China  had  failed  as  signally  as  his 
own,  and  this  alone  would  have  put  him  in  the  best  of 
tempers  even  had  he  not  found  his  armament  and  cara 
van  awaiting  him,  facilitating  his  immediate  departure. 
He  wrote  a  gay  letter  to  Concha,  giving  her  the  painful 
story  of  the  naturalist  attached  to  the  Golofkin  embassy, 
Dr.  Eedovsky,  who  had  remained  in  the  East  animated 
by  the  same  scientific  enthusiasm  as  that  of  his  col 
league,  the  good  Langsdorff;  parted  some  time  since 
from  his  too  exacting  master.  Rezanov  had  written 
Concha  many  letters  during  his  detention  in  Sitka,  and 
left  them  with  Baranhov  to  send  at  the  first  opportunity. 
The  Chief-Manager,  deeply  interested  in  the  romance 
of  the  mighty  Chamberlain  with  whom  he  alone  dared 
to  take  a  liberty,  vowed  to  guard  all  that  came  to  his 
care  and  sooner  or  later  to  send  them  to  California. 
Rezanov  had  also  written  comprehensively  to  the  Tsar 
and  the  directors  of  the  Russian-American  Company, 
adroitly  placing  his  marriage  in  the  light  of  a  diplo 
matic  maneuver,  and  painting  California  in  colors  the 

183 


184  REZANOV 

more  vivid  and  enticing  for  the  sullen  clouds  and  roar 
ing  winds,  the  dripping  forests  and  eternal  snows  of  that 
derelict  corner  of  Earth  where  he  had  been  stranded 
so  long.  He  had  also,  when  Langsdorff  announced  his 
intention  to  start  upon  a  difficult  journey  in  the  interest 
of  science,  provided  him  not  only  with  letters  of  rec 
ommendation,  but  with  all  the  comforts  procurable  in 
a  land  where  the  word  comfort  was  the  stock  in  trade 
of  the  local  satirist.  But  Langsdorff,  although  punctili 
ously  acknowledging  the  favors,  never  quite  forgave  the 
indifference  of  a  mere  ambassador  and  chamberlain, 
rejoicing  in  the  dignity  of  an  honorary  membership  in 
the  St.  Petersburg  Academy  of  Sciences,  to  the  supreme 
division  of  natural  history. 

The  first  stage  of  the  journey — from  Okhotsk  to 
Yakutsk — was  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  English  miles, 
not  as  the  crow  flew,  but  over  the  Stanovoi  mountains 
in  a  southwesterly  direction  to  the  Maya,  by  this  river's 
wavering  course  to  the  Youdoma,  then  northwest  to  the 
Aldan,  and  south  beside  the  Lena.  The  beaten  track  lay 
entirely  alongside  the  rivers  at  this  season,  upon  their 
surface  in  winter ;  and  in  addition  to  these  great  streams 
there  were  many  too  unimportant  for  the  map,  but  as 
erratic  in  course  and  as  irresistible  in  energy  after  the 
first  rains  of  autumn. 

Captain  D  'Wolf  had  proved  himself  capable  and  faith 
ful,  and  a  caravan  of  forty  horses  had  been  in  Okhotsk 
a  week;  twenty  for  immediate  use,  twenty  for  relief,  or 
substitutes  in  almost  certain  emergency.  As  there  were 
but  one  or  two  stations  of  any  importance  between  Ok 
hotsk  and  Yakutsk,  and  as  a  week  might  pass  without 
the  shelter  of  so  much  as  a  hut,  it  was  necessary  to 
take  tents  and  bearskin  beds  for  the  Chamberlain,  his 
Cossack  guard,  valet-de-chambre,  cook  and  other  serv 
ants,  one  set  of  fine  blankets  and  linen,  cooking  utensils, 
axes,  arms,  tinder-boxes,  provisions  for  the  entire  trip, 
besides  a  great  quantity  of  personal  luggage. 

Rezanov  lost  no  time.  He  had  changed  his  original 
plan  and  dispatched  Davidov  on  the  Avos  from  Oon- 


REZANOV  185 

alaska.  Guns  and  provisions  awaited  the  Juno  at  Ok 
hotsk,  and  in  less  than  a  week  after  his  arrival  Rezanov 
was  able  to  start  on  his  long  journey  with  a  mind  at  rest. 
Although  the  almost  extravagant  delight  that  his  body 
had  taken  in  the  comforts  of  his  manager's  home,  after 
ten  weeks  on  the  Juno,  warned  him  that  he  might  be  in 
a  better  condition  to  begin  a  journey  of  ten  thousand 
versts,  he  hearkened  neither  to  the  hint  nor  to  the  in 
sistence  of  his  host.  His  impatient  energy  and  stern 
will,  combined  with  the  passionate  wish  to  accomplish 
the  double  object  of  his  journey,  returning  in  the  least 
possible  time  to  California  with  his  treaty  and  the  con 
sent  of  the  Pope  and  King  to  his  marriage,  would  have 
carried  him  out  of  Okhotsk  in  forty-eight  hours  had 
disease  declared  itself.  Nor  were  there  any  inducements 
aside  from  a  comfortable  bed  and  refined  fare,  in 
the  flat  unhealthy  town  with  its  everlasting  rattle 
of  chains,  and  the  hideous  physiognomies  of  criminals 
always  at  work  to  the  rumbling  accompaniment  of  Cos 
sack  oaths. 

For  the  first  week  the  exercise  he  loved  best  and  the 
long  days  in  the  crisp  open  air  renewed  his  vigor,  and 
he  even  looked  forward  to  the  four  months  of  what  was 
then  the  severest  traveling  in  the  world,  in  a  boyish 
spirit  of  adventure.  He  reflected  that  he  might  as  well 
give  his  brain  a  relief  from  the  constant  revolving  of 
schemes  and  plans  for  the  advancement  of  his  country, 
his  company,  and  himself,  and  let  his  thoughts  have 
their  carnival  of  anticipation  with  the  unparalleled  hap 
piness  and  success  that  awaited  him  in  the  future.  There 
was  no  possible  doubt  of  the  acquiescence  and  assist 
ance  of  the  Tsar,  and  no  man  ever  looked  down  a  fairer 
perspective  than  he,  as  he  galloped  over  the  ugly  coun 
try,  often  far  ahead  of  his  caravan,  splashing  through 
bogs  and  streams,  fording  rivers  without  ferries,  camp 
ing  at  night  in  forests  so  dense  the  cold  never  escaped 
their  embrace,  muffled  to  the  eyes  in  furs  as  he  made  his 
way  past  valleys  whose  eternal  ice  fields  chilled  the 
country  for  miles  about;  sometimes  able  to  procure  a 


186  REZANOV 

little  fresh  milk  and  butter,  oftener  not;  occasionally 
passing  a  caravan  returning  for  furs,  generally  seeing 
nothing  but  a  stray  reindeer  for  hours  together,  once 
meeting  the  post  and  finding  much  for  himself  that  in 
nowise  dampened  his  spirit. 

But  on  the  eighth  day  the  rains  began ;  a  fine  steady 
mist,  then  in  torrents  as  endless.  Wrapped  in  bear 
skins  at  night  within  the  shelter  of  a  tent  or  of  some 
wayside  hut,  and  closely  covered  by  day,  Rezanov  at 
first  merely  cursed  the  inconvenience  of  the  rain ;  but 
while  crossing  the  river  Allach  Juni,  his  guides  without 
consulting  him  having  taken  him  miles  out  of  his  way 
in  order  to  avoid  the  hamlet  of  the  same  name  v/here  the 
small-pox  was  raging,  but  where  there  was  a  government 
ferry,  his  horse  lost  his  footing  in  the  rapid  swollen 
current  and  fell.  Rezanov  managed  to  retain  his  seat, 
and  pulled  the  frightened  plunging  beast  to  its  feet 
while  his  Cossacks  were  still  shouting  their  consterna 
tion.  But  he  was  soaked  to  the  skin,  his  personal  lug 
gage  was  in  the  same  condition,  and  they  did  not  reach 
a  hut  where  a  fire  could  be  made  until  nine  hours  later. 
It  was  then  that  the  seeds  of  malaria,  accumulated  dur 
ing  the  last  three  years  in  unsanitary  ports  and  sown 
deep  by  exceptional  hardships,  but  which  he  believed  had 
taken  themselves  off  during  his  six  weeks  in  California, 
stirred  more  vigorously  than  in  Sitka  or  Okhotsk.  He 
rode  on  the  next  day  in  a  burning  fever.  Jon,  minding 
Langsdorff's  instructions,  doctored  him — not  without 
difficulty — from  the  medicine  chest,  and  for  a  day  or 
two  the  fever  seemed  broken.  But  Jon,  sick  with  appre 
hension,  implored  him  to  turn  back.  He  might  as  well 
have  implored  the  sky  to  turn  blue. 

"How  do  you  think  men  accomplish  things  in  this 
world  ? ' '  asked  Rezanov  angrily.  ' '  By  turning  back  and 
going  to  bed  every  time  they  have  a  migraine?" 

' '  No,  Excellency, ' '  said  the  man  humbly.  ' '  But  health 
is  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  everything,  and  if 
the  body  is  eaten  up  with  fever " 

""What  are  drugs  for?     Give  me  the  whole  damned 


REZANOV  187 

pharmacopeia  if  you  choose,  but  don't  talk  to  me  about 
turning  back." 

"Very  well,  Excellency,"  said  Jon,  with  a  sigh. 

The  next  day  he  and  one  of  the  Cossack  guard  caught 
him  as  he  fell  from  his  horse  unconscious.  A  Takhut 
hut,  miserable  as  it  was,  offered  in  the  persistent  down 
pour  a  better  shelter  than  the  tent.  They  carried  him 
into  it,  and  his  bedding  at  least  was  almost  as  luxuri 
ous  as  had  he  been  in  St.  Petersburg.  Jon,  at  his  wits' 
end,  remembered  the  practice  of  Langsdorff  in  similar 
cases,  and  used  the  lancet,  a  heroic  treatment  he  would 
never  have  accomplished  had  his  master  been  conscious. 
The  fever  ebbed,  and  in  a  few  days  Rezanov  was  able 
to  continue  the  journey  by  shorter  stages,  although  heavy 
with  an  intolerable  lassitude.  But  his  will  sustained  him 
until  he  reached  Yakutsk,  not  at  the  end  of  twenty-two 
days,  but  of  thirty-three.  Here  he  succumbed  immedi 
ately,  and  although  his  sick-bed  was  in  the  comfortable 
home  of  the  agent  of  the  Company,  and  he  had  medical 
attendance  of  a  sort,  his  fever  and  convalescence  lasted 
for  eight  weeks.  Then,  in  spite  of  the  supplications  of 
his  friends,  chief  among  whom  was  his  faithful  Jon,  and 
the  prohibition  of  the  doctor,  he  began  the  second  stage 
of  his  journey. 

The  road  from  Yakutsk  to  Irkutsk,  some  two  thou 
sand  six  hundred  versts,  or  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty 
English  miles,  lay  for  the  most  part  alternately  on  and 
along  the  river  Lena  in  a  southeasterly  direction;  there 
being  no  attempt  to  cross  Siberia  at  any  point  in  a 
straight  line.  By  this  time  the  river  was  frozen,  and 
the  only  concession  Rezanov  would  make  to  his  en 
feebled  frame  was  an  arrangement  to  cover  the  entire 
journey  by  private  sledge  instead  of  employing  the 
swifter  course  of  post  sledge  on  the  long  stretches  and 
horseback  on  the  shorter  cuts. 

The  weather  was  now  intensely  cold,  the  river  wind 
ing,  the  delays  many,  but  there  were  adequate  stations 
for  the  benefit  and  accommodation  of  travelers  every 
hundred  versts  or  less.  Rezanov  felt  so  invigorated  by 


188  REZANOV 

the  long  hours  in  the  open  after  the  barbarous  close 
ness  of  his  sick  room,  that  at  the  end  of  a  fortnight  he 
was  again  possessed  with  all  his  old  ardor  of  desire  to 
reach  the  end  of  his  journey.  He  vowed  he  was  well 
again,  abandoned  his  comfortable  sledge,  and  pushed  on 
in  the  common  manner.  In  the  wretched  post  sledges 
he  was  often  exposed  to  the  full  violence  of  a  Siberian 
winter,  and  although  the  horseback  exercise  stirred  his 
blood  and  refreshed  him  for  the  moment,  he  suffered  in 
reaction  and  was  several  times  forced  to  remain  two 
nights  instead  of  one  at  a  station.  But  he  was  muf 
fled  in  sables  to  his  very  eyes,  and  the  road  was  divert 
ing,  often  beautiful,  with  its  Gothic  mountains,  its  white 
plains  set  with  villages  and  farms,  the  high  thin  crosses 
above  the  open  or  swelling  domes  of  the  little  churches. 
Sometimes  the  Lena  narrowed  until  its  frozen  surface 
looked  like  a  mass  of  ice  that  had  ground  its  way  be 
tween  perpendicular  walls  or  overhanging  masses  of 
rock  that  awaited  the  next  convulsion  of  nature  to  close 
the  pass  altogether.  Then  the  dogs  trotted  past  caves 
and  grottos,  left  the  abrupt  and  craggy  banks,  crossed 
level  plains  once  more;  where  herds  of  cattle  grazed  in 
the  summertime,  now  a  vast  uncheckered  expanse  of 
white.  The  Government  and  Company  agents  fawned 
upon  him,  the  best  of  horses  and  beds,  food  and  wine, 
were  eagerly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  favorite  of  the 
Tsar.  Rezanov  's  spirit,  always  of  the  finest  temper,  suf 
fered  no  eclipse  for  many  days.  He  reveled  in  the  be 
lief  that  his  sorely  tried  body  was  regenerating  its  old 
vigors. 

From  Wercholensk  to  Katschuk  the  journey  was  so 
winding  by  river  that  it  consumed  more  than  twice  the 
time  of  the  land  route,  which  although  only  thirty  versts 
in  extent  was  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  Siberia.  Re 
zanov  chose  the  latter  without  hesitation,  and  would 
listen  to  no  dissuasion  from  the  Commissary  of  the  little 
town  or  from  his  distracted  Jon:  the  journey  from 
Yakutsk  had  now  lasted  five  weeks  and  the  servant's 
watchful  eye  noted  signs  of  exhaustion. 


REZANOV  189 

The  hills  were  very  high  and  very  steep,  the  roads  but 
a  name  in  summer.  Had  not  the  snow  been  soft  and 
thin,  the  horses  could  not  have  made  the  ascent  at  all; 
and,  as  it  was,  the  riders  were  forced  to  walk  the  greater 
part  of  the  way  and  drag  their  unwilling  steeds  behind 
them.  They  were  twelve  hours  covering  the  thirty 
versts,  and  at  Katschuk  Rezanov  succumbed  for  two 
days,  while  Jon  scoured  the  country  in  search  of  a 
telega ;  as  sometimes  happened  there  was  a  long  stretch 
of  country  without  snow,  and  sledges,  by  far  the  most 
comfortable  method  of  travel  in  Siberia,  could  not  be 
used.  The  rest  of  the  journey,  but  one  hundred  and 
ninety-six  versts,  must  be  made  by  land.  Rezanov  ad 
mitted  that  he  was  too  weary  to  ride,  and  refused  to 
travel  in  the  post  carriage.  On  the  third  day  the  serv 
ant  managed  to  hire  a  telega  from  a  superior  farmer  and 
they  started  immediately,  the  heavy  luggage  having  been 
consigned  to  a  merchant  vessel  at  Yakutsk. 

Rezanov  stood  the  telega  exactly  half  a  day.  Little 
larger  than  an  armchair  and  far  lighter,  it  was  drawn 
by  horses  that  galloped  up  and  down  hill  and  across  the 
intervening  valleys  with  no  change  of  gait,  and  over  a 
road  so  rough  that  the  little  vehicle  seemed  to  be  pro 
pelled  by  a  succession  of  earthquakes.  Rezanov,  in  a 
fever  which  he  attributed  to  rage,  dismissed  the  telega 
at  a  village  and  awaited  the  coming  of  Jon,  who  fol 
lowed  on  horseback  with  the  personal  luggage. 

It  was  a  village  of  wooden  houses  built  in  the  Rus 
sian  fashion,  and  inhabited  by  a  dignified  tribe  wearing 
long  white  garments  bordered  with  fur.  They  spoke 
Russian,  a  language  little  heard  farther  north  and  east 
in  Siberia,  and  when  Rezanov  declined  their  hospitality 
they  dispatched  a  courier  at  once  to  the  Governor-Gen 
eral  of  Irkutsk  acquainting  him  with  the  condition  of 
the  Chamberlain  and  of  his  imminent  arrival.  In  con 
sequence,  when  Rezanov  drew  rein  two  days  later  and 
looked  down  upon  the  city  of  Irkutsk  with  its  pleasant 
squares  and  great  stone  buildings  beside  the  shining 
river,  the  gilded  domes  and  crosses  of  its  thirty  churches 


190  REZANOV 

and  convents  glittering  in  the  sun,  the  whole  picture 
beckoning  to  the  delirious  brain  of  the  traveler  like 
some  mirage  of  the  desert,  his  appearance  was  the  signal 
for  a  salute  from  the  fort;  and  the  Governor-General, 
privy  counselor  and  senator  de  Pestel,  accompanied  by 
the  civil  governor,  the  commandant,  and  the  archbishop, 
and  with  a  military  escort,  sallied  forth  and  led  the 
guest,  with  the  formality  of  officials  and  the  compassion 
ate  tenderness  of  men,  into  the  capital. 

For  three  weeks  longer  Rezanov  lay  in  the  palace  of 
the  Governor.  Between  fever  and  lassitude,  his  iron  will 
seemed  alternately  to  melt  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  his 
body,  then,  a  cooling  but  still  viscous  and  formless  mass, 
sink  to  the  utmost  depths  of  his  being.  But  here  he  had 
the  best  of  nursing  and  attendance,  rallied  finally  and 
insisted  upon  continuing  his  journey.  His  doctor  made 
the  less  demur  as  the  traveling  was  far  smoother  now, 
in  the  early  days  of  March,  than  it  would  be  a  month 
hence,  when  the  snow  was  thinner  and  the  sledges  were 
no  longer  possible.  Nevertheless,  he  announced  his  in 
tention  to  accompany  him  as  far  as  Krasnoiarsk,  where 
the  Chamberlain  could  lodge  in  the  house  of  the  princi 
pal  magistrate  of  the  place,  Counselor  Keller,  and,  if 
necessary,  be  able  to  command  fair  nursing  and  medical 
attendance;  and  to  this  Rezanov  indifferently  assented. 

The  prospect  of  continuing  his  journey  and  the  bustle 
of  preparation  raised  the  spirits  of  the  invalid  and  gave 
him  a  fictitious  energy.  He  had  fought  depression  and 
despair  in  all  his  conscious  moments,  never  admitted  that 
the  devastation  in  his  body  was  mortal.  With  but  a 
remnant  of  his  former  superb  strength,  and  emaciated 
beyond  recognition,  he  attended  a  banquet  on  the  night 
preceding  his  departure,  and  on  the  following  morning 
stood  up  in  his  sledge  and  acknowledged  the  God-speed 
of  the  population  of  Irkutsk  assembled  in  the  square 
before  the  palace  of  the  Governor.  All  his  life  he  had 
excited  interest  wherever  he  went,  but  never  to  such  a 
degree  as  on  that  last  journey  when  he  made  his  desper 
ate  fight  for  life  and  happiness. 


XXVII 

THE  snow  rarely  falls  in  Krasnoiarsk.  It  is  a  little 
oasis  in  the  great  winter  desert  of  Siberia.  Rezanov, 
his  face  turned  to  the  window,  could  see  the  red  banks 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  The  sun  transformed 
the  gilded  cupolas  and  crosses  into  dazzling  points  of 
light,  and  the  sky  above  the  spires  and  towers,  the  state 
ly  square  and  narrow  dirty  streets  of  the  bustling  little 
capital,  was  as  blue  and  unflecked  as  that  which  arched 
so  high  above  a  land  where  Castilian  roses  grew,  and 
one  woman  among  a  gay  and  thoughtless  people  dreamed, 
with  all  the  passion  of  her  splendid  youth,  of  the  man 
to  whom  she  had  pledged  an  eternal  troth.  Rezanov 's 
mind  was  clear  in  those  last  moments,  but  something  of 
the  serenity  and  the  selfishness  of  death  had  already  de 
scended  upon  him.  He  heard  with  indifference  the  sobs 
of  Jon,  crouched  at  the  foot  of  his  bed.  Tears  and  re 
grets  were  a  part  of  the  general  futility  of  life,  insig 
nificant  enough  at  the  grand  threshold  of  death. 

No  doubt  that  his  great  schemes  would  die  with  him, 
and  were  he  remembered  at  all  it  would  be  as  a  dreamer ; 
or  as  a  failure  because  he  had  died  before  accomplishing 
what  his  brain  and  energy  and  enthusiasm  alone  could 
force  to  fruition.  None  realized  better  than  he  the 
paucity  of  initiative  and  executive  among  the  charac 
teristics  of  the  Slav.  What  mattered  it?  He  had  had 
glimpses  more  than  once  of  the  apparently  illogical  se 
quence  of  life,  the  vanity  of  human  effort,  the  wanton 
cruelty  of  Nature.  He  had  known  men  struck  down 
before  in  the  maturity  of  their  usefulness,  cities  de 
stroyed  by  earthquake  or  hurricane  in  the  fairest  and 
most  promising  of  their  days:  public  men,  priests,  par 
ents,  children,  wantons,  criminals,  blotted  out  with  equal 

191 


192  REZANOV 

impartiality  by  a  brutal  force  that  would  seem  to  have 
but  a  casual  use  for  the  life  she  flung  broadcast  on  her 
planets.  Man  was  the  helpless  victim  of  Nature,  a  calf 
in  a  tiger's  paws.  If  she  overlooked  him,  or  swept  him 
contemptuously  into  the  class  of  her  favorites,  well  and 
good;  otherwise  he  was  her  sport,  the  plaything  of  her 
idler  moments.  Those  that  cried  ''But  why?"  "What 
reason?"  "What  use?"  were  those  that  had  never 
looked  over  the  walls  of  their  ego  at  the  great  dramatic 
moments  in  the  career  of  Nature,  when  she  made  im 
mortal  fame  for  herself  at  the  expense  of  millions  of 
pigmies. 

And  if  his  energies,  his  talents,  his  usefulness,  were 
held  of  no  account,  at  least  he  could  look  back  upon  a 
past  when  he  would  have  seemed  to  be  one  of  the  few 
supreme  favorites  of  the  forces  that  shaped  man's  life 
and  destiny.  Until  he  had  started  from  Kronstadt  four 
years  before  on  a  voyage  that  had  humiliated  his  proud 
spirit  more  than  once,  and  undermined  as  splendid  a 
physique  as  ever  was  granted  to  even  a  Russian,  he  had 
rolled  the  world  under  his  foot.  With  an  appearance 
and  a  personal  magnetism,  gifts  of  mind  and  manner  and 
character  that  would  have  commanded  attention  amid 
the  general  flaccidity  of  his  race  and  conquered  life  with 
out  the  great  social  advantages  he  inherited,  he  had  en 
joyed  power  and  pleasure  to  a  degree  that  would  have 
spoiled  a  coarser  nature  long  since.  True,  the  time  had 
come  when  he  had  cared  little  for  any  of  his  endow 
ments  save  as  a  means  to  great  ends,  when  all  his  ener 
gies  had  concentrated  in  the  determination  to  live  a  life 
of  the  highest  possible  usefulness — without  which  man's 
span  was  but  existence — his  ambitions  had  cohered  and 
been  driven  steadily  toward  a  permanent  niche  in  his 
tory  ;  then  paled  and  dissolved  for  an  hour  in  the  glori 
ous  vision  of  human  happiness. 

And  wholly  as  he  might  realize  man's  insignificance 
among  the  blind  forces  of  nature,  he  could  accept  it 
philosophically  and  die  with  his  soul  uncorroded  by  mis 
anthropy,  that  final  and  uncompromising  admission  of 


REZANOV  193 

failure.  The  misanthrope  was  the  supreme  failure  of 
life  because  he  had  not  the  intelligence  to  realize,  or 
could  not  reconcile  himself  to,  the  incomplete  condition 
of  human  nature.  Man  was  made  up  of  little  qualities, 
and  aspirations  for  great  ones.  Many  yielded  in  the 
struggle  and  sank  into  impotent  discontent  among  the 
small  material  things  of  life,  instead  of  uplifting  them 
selves  with  the  picture  of  the  inevitable  future  when 
development  had  run  its  course,  and  indulgently  pity 
ing  the  children  of  their  own  period  who  so  often  made 
life  hateful  with  their  greed,  selfishness,  snobbery —  J 
most  potent  obstacle  to  human  endeavor — and  injustice. 
The  bad  judgment  of  the  mass!  How  many  careers  it 
had  balked,  if  not  ruined,  with  its  poor  ideals,  its  mean 
heroes,  its  instinctive  avoidance  of  superior  qualities 
foreign  to  itself,  its  contemptible  desire  to  be  identified 
with  a  fashion.  It  was  this  low  standard  of  the  crowd 
that  induced  misanthropy  in  many  otherwise  brave  spir 
its  who  lacked  the  insight  to  discern  the  divine  spark 
underneath,  the  persistence,  sure  of  reward,  to  fight 
their  way  to  this  spark  and  reveal  it  to  the  gaze  of  as 
tonished  and  flattered  humanity.  Rezanov's  very  arro 
gance  had  led  him  to  regard  the  mass  of  mankind  as  but 
one  degree  removed  from  the  nursery;  his  good  nature 
and  philosophical  spirit  to  treat  them  with  an  indul 
gence  that  kept  sourness  out  of  his  cynicism  and  inevit 
ably  recurring  weariness  and  disgust ;  his  ardent  imagi 
nation  had  consoled  itself  with  the  vision  of  a  future 
when  man  should  live  in  a  world  made  reasonable  by 
the  triumph  of  ideals  that  now  lurked  half  ashamed  in 
the  high  spaces  of  the  human  mind. 

He  looked  back  in  wonder  at  the  moment  of  wild 
regret  and  protest — the  bitterer  in  its  silence — when  they 
had  told  him  he  must  die ;  when  in  the  last  rally  of  the 
vital  forces  he  had  believed  his  will  was  still  strong 
enough  to  command  his  ravaged  body,  to  propel  his 
brain,  still  teeming  with  a  vast  and  complicated  future, 
his  heart,  still  warm  and  insistent  with  the  image  it 
cherished,  on  to  the  ultimates  of  ambition  and  love. 


194  REZANOV 

How  brief  it  had  been,  that  last  cry  of  mortality,  with 
its  accompaniment  of  furious  wonder  at  his  unseemly 
and  senseless  cutting  off.  In  the  adjustment  and  read 
justment  of  political  and  natural  forces  the  world  am 
bled  on  philosophically,  fulfilling  its  inevitable  destiny. 

If  he  had  not  been  beyond  humor,  he  would  have 
smiled  at  the  idea  that  in  the  face  of  all  eternity  it  mat 
tered  what  nation  on  one  little  planet  eventually  pos 
sessed  a  fragment  called  California.  To  him  that  fair 
land  was  empty  and  purposeless  save  for  one  figure, 
and  even  of  her  he  thought  with  the  terrible  calm  of 
dissolution.  During  these  last  months  of  illness  and 
isolation  he  had  been  less  lonely  than  at  any  time  of  his 
life  save  during  those  few  weeks  in  California,  for  he 
had  lived  with  her  incessantly  in  spirit;  and  in  that 
subtle  imaginative  communion  had  pressed  close  to  a 
profound  and  complex  soul,  revealed  before  only  in 
flashes  to  a  vision  astray  in  the  confusion  of  the  senses. 
He  had  felt  that  her  response  to  his  passion  was  far 
more  vital  and  enduring  than  dwelt  in  the  capacity  of 
most  women ;  he  had  appreciated  her  gifts  of  mind,  her 
piquant  variousness  that  scotched  monotony,  the  ad 
mirable  characteristics  that  would  give  a  man  repose 
and  content  in  his  leisure,  and  subtly  advance  his  career. 
But  in  those  long  reveries,  at  the  head  of  his  forlorn 
caravan  or  in  the  desolate  months  of  convalescence,  he 
had  arrived  at  an  absolute  understanding  of  what  she 
herself  had  divined  while  half  comprehending. 

Theirs  was  one  of  the  few  immortal  loves  that  reveal 
the  rarely  sounded  deeps  of  the  soul  while  in  its  frail 
tenement  on  earth;  and  he  harbored  not  a  doubt  that 
their  love  was  stronger  than  mortality  and  that  their 
ultimate  union  was  decreed.  Meanwhile,  she  would  suf 
fer,  no  one  but  he  could  dream  how  completely,  but  her 
strong  soul  would  conquer,  and  she  would  live  the  life 
she  had  visioned  in  moments  of  despair ;  not  of  cloistered 
selfishness,  but  of  incomparable  usefulness  to  her  little 
world;  and  far  happier,  in  her  eternal  youthfulness  of 


REZANOV  195 

heart,  in  that  divine  life  of  the  imagination  where  he 
must  always  be  with  her  as  she  had  known  him  briefly 
at  his  best,  than  in  the  blunt  commonplaceness  of  daily 
existence,  the  routine  and  disillusionment  of  the  world. 
Perhaps — who  knew? — he  had,  after  all,  given  her  the 
best  that  man  can  offer  to  a  woman  of  exalted  nature; 
instead  of  taking  again  with  his  left  hand  what  his  right 
had  bestowed;  completed  the  great  gift  of  life  with  the 
priceless  beacon  of  death. 

How  unlike  was  life  to  the  old  Greek  tragedies!  He 
recalled  his  prophetic  sense  of  impending  happiness, 
success,  triumph,  as  he  entered  California,  the  rejuve 
nescence  of  his  spirit  in  the  renewal  of  his  wasted  forces 
even  before  he  loved  the  woman.  Every  event  of  the 
past  year,  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  that  mortal  must  ex 
pect,  had  marched  with  his  ambitions  and  desires,  and 
straight  toward  a  future  that  would  have  given  him  the 
most  coveted  of  all  destinies,  a  station  in  history.  There 
had  not  been  a  hint  that  his  brain,  so  meaningly  and 
consummately  equipped,  would  perish  in  the  ruins  of 
his  body  in  less  than  a  twelvemonth  from  that  fragrant 
morning  when  he  had  entered  the  home  of  Concha  Ar- 
giiello  tingling  with  a  pagan  joy  in  mere  existence,  a 
sudden  rush  of  desire  for  the  keen  wild  happiness  of 
youth 

His  eyes  wandered  from  the  bright  cross  above  the 
little  cemetery  where  he  was  to  lie,  and  contracted  with 
an  expression  of  wonder.  Where  had  Jon  found  Cas- 
tilian  roses  in  this  barren  land  ?  No  man  had  ever  been 

more  blest  in  a  servant,  but  could  even  he — here 

With  the  last  triumph  of  will  over  matter  he  raised  his 
head,  his  keen  searching  gaze  noting  every  detail  of  the 
room,  bare  and  unlovely  save  for  its  altar  and  ikons,  its 
kneeling  priests  and  nuns.  His  eyes  expanded,  his  nos 
trils  quivered.  As  he  sank  down  in  the  embrace  of  that 
final  delusion,  his  unconquerably  sanguine  spirit  flared 
high  before  a  vision  of  eternal  and  unthinkable  happi 
ness. 


196  REZANOV 

So  died  Rezanov;  and  with  him  the  hope  of  Russians 
and  the  hindrance  of  Americans  in  the  west;  and  the 
mortal  happiness  and  earthly  dross  of  the  saintliest  of 
California 's  women. 


AUTHORITIES 

Bancroft's  "History  of  California" 

Bancroft's  "History  of  Alaska" 

Hittell's  "History  of  California" 

Tikhmenev's  "Historical  Review  of  the  Origin  of  the 

Russian- American  Company ' ' 

Rezanov-Zapiski  Correspondence  (Russian  Archives) 
Langsdorff's  "Voyages  and  Travels" 
Krusenstern 's  "Voyage  Round  the  World" 
Russian  Encyclopedia 
(And  Private  Sources) 


DATE  DUE 


H^M™.  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

III  III  I!  Ill  I  III 


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